People v. Royster

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of aggravated battery of his fiancee’s 2-year old daughter after she threw a temper tantrum in doctor’s office where her mother had an appointment. Jury instruction given as to parental discipline, stating that a person or a person lawfully acting in a parent’s place is justified in using corporal punishment as discipline so long as it is necessary and reasonable. Instructions were neither misstatements of law nor conflicting. Thus, trial counsel was not deficient to agreeing to the instructions.(LYTTON and WRIGHT, concurring.)