People v. Dallas

Defendant Thomas Avery Dallas phoned his girlfriend while she was out and told her that her nine-month-old son had been hurt. The next day, the baby was found to have two skull fractures. (Fortunately, he recovered fully, with no permanent injuries.) Defendant claimed that the girlfriend’s older son had hit the baby in the head with a plastic toy airplane; there was considerable evidence, however, that this was not true.

The trial court, citing Evidence Code section 1109, also admitted evidence that defendant had committed previous acts of domestic violence against a former girlfriend and previous acts of child abuse against that former girlfriend’s child.

A jury found defendant guilty on two counts:

In connection with each count, it found true an enhancement for personally inflicting great bodily injury on a child under the age of five. (Pen. Code, § 12022.7, subd. (d).) Defendant was sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison.

In the published portion of this opinion, we will hold that, because defendant lived with the baby, this was not only a prosecution for “child abuse” so that prior acts of child abuse were admissible under Evidence Code section 1109,…