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Name: People v. Norman
Case #: C039174
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 05/28/2003
Subsequent History: None
Summary

The so-called “child-homicide” statute (Pen. Code, sec. 273ab), prescribes a penalty of 25 to life for an assault by a caretaker of a child under the age of eight by means of force likely to result in great bodily injury, resulting in death. The court rejected the argument that the statute denied due process as a disguised attempt to impose a first degree murder penalty but without a showing of premeditated and deliberated express malice. The court concluded that the statute is not a murder statute, and found no due process impediment to the Legislature prescribing the same penalty for different crimes. Also, the court rejected the claim that, on its face, the penalty prescribed by the statute constituted cruel and unusual punishment.