Assault Charge To Be Retried Under Parent Discipline Defense

In State of Washington v. McHenry, (WA Ct, App., Nov. 25, 2008), a Washington state appellate court reversed and remanded for retrial a defendant's conviction for assaulting his daughter with a knife. The court upheld his conviction on other counts of assault against the daughter. On the one count, defendant claimed that his religion allowed him, as a father, to cut his daughter's hair if he believed she was using her beauty to be promiscuous. The court held that failure of defendant's counsel to request a jury instruction under RCW 9A.16.100 (which allows a parent to impose reasonable and moderate physical discipline on a child) amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel on that count.