## Facts

- Joyce Lillian Pope, a member of a religious group, took into her home Melissa Norris and Norris’s infant son, Demiko.
- During a religious gathering at Pope’s home, Norris repeatedly beat the infant over several hours while Pope was present.
- Pope did not physically intervene, seek medical assistance, or notify authorities.
- The infant died later that night from injuries inflicted by Norris.
- Pope was charged and convicted of (1) child abuse under a statute limited to a parent, one in loco parentis, or one responsible for supervision, and (2) misprision of felony for allegedly concealing Norris’s felony conduct.
- An intermediate appellate court reversed the child-abuse conviction for insufficient evidence but affirmed misprision; both parties sought further review.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to convict Pope of statutory child abuse—either as a principal by omission or as an accomplice—given the requirement that the defendant be in loco parentis to, or responsible for supervising, the child.
2. Whether misprision of felony remained a chargeable common-law offense in Maryland.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the reversal of the child-abuse conviction and ordered entry of a judgment of acquittal on that count.
- The court reversed the misprision conviction, held misprision of felony was not a prosecutable offense in Maryland, and ordered dismissal of that count.
- The case was remanded for entry of an acquittal on child abuse and dismissal of misprision.

## Legal Principles

- Criminal omission liability requires a legally recognized duty to act; moral obligation alone is insufficient.
- The child-abuse statute applied only to a parent, an individual in loco parentis, or a person responsible for the child’s supervision; the State had to prove the defendant fell within that class.
- In loco parentis requires an assumption of parental obligations (and corresponding benefits) with evidence of intent to establish that relationship.
- “Responsibility for supervision” arises from mutual consent (express or implied) between the legal custodian and the person accepting supervisory responsibility; it is not established merely by awareness that a child may need help.
- Without proof of a statutory duty, an omission cannot supply the act requirement for principal liability for child abuse, and mere presence without assistance, encouragement, or aid is insufficient for accomplice liability.
- Misprision of felony was not part of Maryland’s enforceable common law due to long nonuse and incompatibility with modern criminal law; absent a statute, failure to report a felony was not criminal.

## Conclusion

The court held that Pope’s failure to stop or report the abuse, though morally blameworthy, did not support a child-abuse conviction because the State did not prove she had the legally defined custodial or supervisory duty required by statute, and it further eliminated misprision of felony as a chargeable offense in Maryland absent legislative enactment.


Pope v. State, 284 Md. 309, 396 A.2d 1054 (Md. 1979)