Chapter 16 - Linda’s defense
Linda eventually gave a second formal account through counsel.
This one acknowledged more.
She had been annoyed.
She had told Ellie to leave Caleb’s cup.
She stood holding coffee.
She moved her arm sharply.
Coffee hit Ellie.
But:
“I did not intend to throw coffee into her face.”
That may have been true.
Intent to hit face specifically was not necessary to make the act dangerous.
Then:
“I was trying to startle her away from the cup.”
There.
A meaningful shift.
Not spill.
Startle.
“How?”
By moving the coffee.
Her lawyer argued she intended to splash the floor or perhaps the child’s clothing lightly, believing the coffee had cooled.
Did she know the temperature?
The coffee had been poured approximately five minutes earlier from a machine producing near-brewing temperature water.
Her mug had cream.
Exact contact temperature at the moment could not be reconstructed perfectly.
Burn severity established it remained hot enough to injure.
Linda said:
“I didn’t think.”
May you like
That sounded true.
Recklessness often depends on not thinking where a reasonable adult must.
