Hillary Hillaird was raised in New Oxford, Pennsylvania. According to her father, she was "prone to go wild," beginning in her freshman year in high school, and quit school, permanently, the following year. She became pregnant by her boyfriend, Bud Buster, at fifteen-years old, who then married her in August of 2016. On December 31, 2017, Brylen Buster was born to the couple. Bud and Hillary separated, but never divorced, shortly after their marriage and, in October, 2019, she met Tyson Davis. He was twenty-one years' old and a native of Louisiana. Hillary knew that he, too, was married and was separated from his wife and young son. Her relationship with Tyson rapidly developed into something more than that of friendship. In May, 2020, he went to Louisiana and Hillary joined him. However, she left her baby with her parents. Hillary and Tyson lived together in Louisiana and Mississippi, and, when he was unable to secure employment, they returned, in July 2020, to live with her parents in Bethesda, Maryland. Hillary's dad was dissatisfied with the manner in which Tyson chastised and punished little Brylen. On July 31, 2020, Brylen would not eat her dinner so Tyson came over to the table and whacked her. Hillary's dad told Tyson, "to wait one damn minute here this is the last time you are going to lay a hand on her in this house," and then ordered him from the home. Hillary was present, yet said nothing. Tyson left the next day and acquired a third-floor apartment and Hillary and Brylen joined him. It was apparent from the moment the couple arrived that Tyson beat Brylen. The neighbors described the treatment of Brylen. Mrs. Cooper occupied the second-floor apartment immediately below Hillary and Tyson. Approximately four days after the couple moved in Mrs. Cooper could hear the severe and brutal beatings Brylen received at the hands of Tyson. She testified that she was greatly disturbed by the "tormenting." Tyson would order the child to hold out her hand, and then he would slap her. Then he would say, 'Where's your baby doll'? When the child reached for it, there would be a loud slap. Mrs. Cooper could hear the slaps in her apartment. This would be repeated over and over again. According to Mrs. Cooper, Tyson would "scream at her." She told the police that "it wasn't just the beating by any means. It was the treatment the child went through." On Saturday, August 7th, Mrs. Cooper arrived home at about 10:00 P.M. Tyson was beating the baby and he beat her constantly until eleven o'clock. Mrs. Cooper was so upset, she sent her husband to find a policeman. Mrs. Cooper heard Hillary asking Tyson to stop, but the beating continued. In fact, Tyson dragged Brylen up and down the hall beating and beating her. Finally, Hillary yelled, 'My God, Tyson, you have opened up her soft spot!' Tyson yelled, "You think I did that? You must be nuts." When the policeman finally arrived, he did not hear any beating and neither Tyson, nor Hillary, opened the door. The next morning Mrs. Cooper heard Tyson beating the child again. She could stand it no longer. She went up stairs and knocked on the door. She asked Tyson, in front of Hillary, what he was trying to do to the child, "was he trying to kill Brylen?" He told her to mind her own business, "that he would do exactly as he pleased with her." Mrs. Cooper warned him that there were things that could be done to people for mistreating children and he would be "handled." About one hour later Hillary came down to see Mrs. Cooper. She pleaded with Mrs. Cooper not to have Tyson arrested. Hillary said that Tyson would get into trouble if he were arrested, that she loved him, and that Mrs. Cooper must have been imagining that the beatings were more severe than they actually were. Hillary explained that Tyson was worried over some difficulty at work and was bothered by the heat. Mrs. Cooper told Hillary that that was no reason to "beat your kid to death." On one other occasion, Tyson had pushed the baby on the stairs and was beating her. Hillary asked him to stop and said: "Look what you have done." Whereupon, the beating terminated. On two other occasions when Tyson was just beating the baby, Mrs. Cooper heard Hillary say, "she's had enough," but Tyson did not stop and kept on beating Brylen. Mrs. Sarah Gray's apartment was adjacent to Hillary's apartment. She saw Brylen nearly every day, and, except for the first two or three days after Brylen moved in, she had bruise marks on her at one place or another, including her chest and the backs of her legs. The marks were not on the same places all the time. On one occasion, Brylen and her mother stopped by Mrs. Gray's apartment and the child was wearing sunglasses because the infant's left eye was completely closed by swelling and was black. The right eye was also black, and was almost closed by swelling. Mrs. Gray asked Hillary what was wrong with Brylen and Hillary simply said, 'I don't know. "She just gets that way." On Friday, August 13, 2020, about 9:45 P.M., Mrs. Gray was in her bedroom. Through her open window, which was near the open door to Hillary's apartment she could hear Tyson beating the child. He was beating the baby with something leather. It sounded like a belt. Mrs. Gray heard Tyson ordering the child to 'Lay down.' 'Stand up.' 'Turn around.' Each time he would strike the baby four or five times. There was not even the lapse of two minutes between commands. This went on for thirty minutes. Mrs. Gray heard Hillary yell 'Tyson" in a frantic voice. He said, "You shut up too." After listening through the window for approximately 20 minutes, Mrs. Gray stood outside and listened. Mrs. Gray heard Brylen crying until 10:45 p.m., when she decided to alert Mrs. Cox, the landlady and occupant of the first floor apartment. Mrs. Cox had not heard any noise, because her air conditioner was on. The two women stood outside under a tree. They heard the slaps of a belt hitting flesh. The beating continue until about midnight, a minimum period of some two hours and fifteen minutes. About midnight there was a thump which sounded like a body hitting against the wall or the floor. That was the last Mrs. Gray heard from the apartment that night. Mrs. Dorothy Bienviaje moved into the third-floor apartment on the other side of the building from the Hillary on Saturday, August 21st, the day following the lashing that continued for two and a quarter hours. On the day of her arrival, she noticed that Brylen had a black eye, and it was not over three days before she, too, realized that Brylen was being whipped too often, too frequently. The beatings were not like spanking a child four or five times on the bottom: They just kept on and on, and had a rhythm to them that the she could not help but notice. She also saw the child's eyes when they were red-rimmed from crying, and the baby's face when it was bruised. Tyson bit the child on both buttocks. This fact was not only admitted by both Tyson and the Hillary, but the cupshaped marks left by the upper and lower teeth were visible on both of the infant's buttocks after death. Tyson told Hillary that he had bitten the baby because she had bitten him, and the Hillary testified that she considered his conduct proper, since Brylen had bitten him. On August 24th, Tyson was in the apartment all day with Brylen. He began beating the child again. He stated that he "beat her with his fist, his hand and a belt."' Hillary was in and out of the apartment throughout the day. About 6:00 P.M. Tyson struck the infant with a blow or blows which literally ripped the infant's liver nearly in two and which tore the fatty, vascular tissue supporting the colon. The baby began to hemorrhage and vomit. Hillary and Tyson gave her some milk. She continued vomiting. Hillary called the doctor and told him her baby was sick. She told him the child had a cold, had a lot of phlegm in her throat, and might choke to death. The doctor instructed her to take the baby to the hospital. The baby was dead on arrival. Hillary made no show of emotion but repeated eight or ten times that Tyson could not have done it, and asked if Tyson would be all right and what would happen to Tyson. Hillary and Tyson were taken to the police station. When reunited after separate questioning, they went into a love scene. The first tear Hillary shed was after her mother arrived at the police station The medical examiner observed Brylen's twenty pound body after death and noticed that her back and her front, the legs and the buttocks, were covered with bruises and welts. According to the medical examiner the infant had multiple bruises from head to foot, both arms, both legs, back, front and face. Dr. Conrad, a pathologist who performed an autopsy upon the child, described the external evidence of injury to be "multiple, generalized, red-purple, three-quarter inch diameter discolorations of the skin, irregular in shape. They were on the face, the throat, the left side of the neck, the abdomen, the back and the legs. There was a three-eighth inch diameter tear of the central portion of the upper lip, a three-quarter inch diameter contusion of the inner surface of the left cheek, and a one-quarter inch laceration of the hymen. Human bite marks were on both buttocks. Internally, the autopsy disclosed that all of the abdominal viscera were normal except the liver and the mesentery attachments of the large bowel. There was a through and through laceration of the liver. There was a one-inch tear of the anterior portion, superior and anterior portion, which was in continuity with a similar laceration on the posterior surface of the liver which measured two inches, as well as a laceration of the cauda lobe." In the Doctor's opinion, it would take a severe and violent force to produce the internal injuries. Tyson admitted that he whipped the baby too much but blamed it on business worries and his health. He claimed the incident was a lie and explained the child's black eyes by saying she tripped over an electric fan. He recalled striking the child with his fist. The Hillary stated that the child was ornery and stubborn and she left most of the discipline to Tyson; that he was strict, but did not spank Brylen hard enough to hurt her. According to Hillary, she had never seen Tyson strike the child with his fist, but had seen him hit her with a belt. Tyson had told her of his biting Brylen on the buttocks, but she did not think the punishment too harsh. She stated that certain incidents arose that required her to leave the apartment quite a number of times on August 24th. He only spanked the child twice that day, and there was nothing unusual in her appearance or condition. In the afternoon, she brought a doll home to Brylen. Tyson gave the doll to the infant, who kissed them both and then went to bed. Hillary left the apartment again to obtain some beer for anticipated company. Upon her return, the child was in the bath tub, and, when she inquired of Tyson why, he said that Brylen was sick and vomiting. She gave the baby warm milk, but Brylen could not keep the food down. She had had this difficulty before. Hillary thought this was a recurrence. The child was having difficulty in breathing, and began spitting up phlegm. Tyson told her to go for the doctor and she did. She said she knew of nothing that happened in the apartment that day, except his spankings on the child's bottom, but she did not, at any time, believe the child's life was in danger. She further stated that she loved Brylen and was never unkind to her, and, if she had thought Tyson's discipline of Brylen too severe, she would have left him. You are the judge. What charges, if any, should Hillary face? What sentence would you impose? Hillary had no prior record. Tyson pled guilty and was convicted. Students must determine what, if any, charges Hillary should face. You must explain why you elected to charge the defendant with the offense. Once the student determines the charge(s), you must visit the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy website for sentencing recommendations. Log on the website and click the link to Guidelines Offense Table (http://www.msccsp.org/Files/Guidelines/offensetable.pdf) , which is located on the left-hand side of the page. Locate the offense for wish you wish to charge Hillary. ***Even if you believe Hillary has a valid defense argument, you must still charge her with a crime*** Sample Sentence Directions For example, if you believe Hillary should be charged with burglary 1st degree, then locate the burglary 1st degree offense. Once you locate the offense determine the serious category (burglary is a category III). Next, click the "Guidelines" link. Scroll down and click " Sample Copy of Sentencing Guidelines Worksheet (Version 1.8) " You will calculate the Offense score and the offender score. Using burglary, which is a Category III offense, Hillary's offense score is 7 points (5 points because it is her 1st offense and 2 points because there was a permanent injury) and her offender score is 0 (She has no pending cases and no priors.) Please note that a PDF copy of the document has been provided within the content module. Once you calculate the offense score and offender score, on the "Guidelines" page click "Guideline Scoring Matrices " Using the matrice, locate the sentencing range for the defendant. Using my example, Hillary's range is 3Y-8Y (3-8 years). After determining the range, you must sentence Hillary to a sentence between 3-8. I sentence Hillary to 5 1/2 years. 3 points-imposing the correct charges based on the facts 2 points- calculating the proper offense and offender score 3 points-locating the correct matrix score (sentencing range using the Scoring Matrices) 2 points-imposing a sentence within the guidelines