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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF IDAHO Docket No. 29631 STATE OF IDAHO, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. CHRISTOPHER DAVID GRIFFITH, Defendant-Appellant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

2007 Opinion No. 9 Filed: March 7, 2007 Stephen W. Kenyon, Clerk

Appeal from the District Court of the Seventh Judicial District, State of Idaho, Bonneville County. Hon. Richard T. St. Clair, District Judge. Judgment of conviction for first degree murder, affirmed. Molly J. Huskey, State Appellate Public Defender; Justin M. Curtis, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Justin M. Curtis argued. Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Kenneth K. Jorgensen, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued. ______________________________________________ LANSING, Judge Christopher David Griffith appeals from his conviction of first degree murder, asserting numerous trial errors, error in the denial of his motion for a new trial, and an abuse of discretion in the sentence imposed. We affirm. I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On November 6, 2001, two-year-old Tegan Rees sustained a blow to his body. The child's pancreas was compressed against the spine, cutting the pancreas nearly in half, and he bled to death. Tegan's body exhibited multiple fresh bruises on the ears, forehead, trunk and buttocks and numerous hematomas (swelling caused by blood) attendant to the facial bruises. The only persons in the apartment at the time of injury were Griffith and Tegan's four-year-old sister, B.M.

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Griffith was charged with first degree felony murder by aggravated battery of a child under twelve years of age, Idaho Code

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