State v. McMillen

In State v. McMillen, Stark App. No. 2008CA00122, 2009 Ohio 210, the Court noted that the Ohio Supreme Court has held that an indictment for child endangering which does not contain the culpable mental state of recklessness is insufficient to charge the offense. Id. at P32, citing State v. O'Brien (1987), 30 Ohio St. 3d 122, 30 Ohio B. 436, 508 N.E. 2d 144. The endangering children statute includes the same language as the patient endangerment statute, requiring the state to prove that the offender created a "substantial risk to the health or safety" of the child. Id. at P34. The Court concluded that based on the similarities in the statutes, the legislature did not intend to impose strict liability for patient endangerment, and the culpable mental state of recklessness is grafted into the statute by virtue of R.C. 2901.21(B). Id. at P35.