Cochener v. State

In Cochener v. State, No. 14-91-00153-CR, 1992 WL 105768 (Tex. App.--Houston 14th Dist May 21, 1992, no pet.), the defendant was convicted of abandoning her four-year-old daughter when the defendant left the child unattended in a car while she went shopping. The defendant brought a legal-sufficiency challenge, claiming that the State "failed to refute her allegation that the child was competent to supervise herself." She also contended that she did not abandon her four-year-old child because she left the child in the care of her "capable twelve-year-old son." Id. The Fourteenth Court rejected both of these arguments, stating, "The jury was entitled to believe that a reasonable, similarly situated adult would not permit a twelve-year-old to be solely responsible for the care of a younger sibling for any period of time without some parental supervision." Id.