NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, One Charles Doe Drive, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Errors may be reported by e-mail at the following address: reporter@courts.state.nh.us. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court’s home page is: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme. THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ___________________________ Rockingham No. 2018-0222 THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE v. KATHERINE SAINTIL-BROWN Argued: March 13, 2019 Opinion Issued: April 17, 2019 Gordon J. MacDonald, attorney general (Brandon H. Garod, assistant attorney general, on the brief and orally), for the State. Christopher M. Johnson, chief appellate defender, of Concord, on the brief and orally, for the defendant. HICKS, J. The defendant, Katherine Saintil-Brown, appeals her convictions by a jury in Superior Court (Delker, J.) for negligent homicide, see RSA 630:3 (2016), criminal neglect of an elderly adult, see RSA 631:8 (2016) (amended 2016), and failure to report adult abuse, see RSA 161-F:46 (2014) (amended 2016), :50 (2014). The defendant’s convictions were based upon her failure to call for help while her elderly mother, the victim, lay in her own waste on the floor of their shared home for multiple days. On appeal, the defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient for the jury to have convicted her of the three charges. She also argues that the trial court erroneously instructed the jury on the criminal neglect of an elderly adult charge and that this error requires reversal of her conviction on that charge. The defendant raises her appellate arguments under our plain error rule. See Sup. Ct. R. 16-A. As to the jury instruction issue, the State agrees that the trial court’s instruction was erroneous and that the error was plain, but asserts that the error does not require reversal. We affirm. I. Background The jury could have found the following facts based upon the evidence at trial and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. The victim was nearly 76 years old when the events that led to her death occurred. See RSA 631:8, I(d) (defining an elderly adult as a person who is 60 years of age or older). For years, the victim’s personal hygiene was lacking. Former co- workers testified that as early as the 1990’s, the victim would not use the toilet, but would instead urinate and defecate wherever she was sitting or standing. When the victim’s husband died in 2012, the victim became depressed, and her depression caused her to neglect her personal hygiene even more than before. After her husband died, the victim essentially ceased taking showers. Nor did she clean her home. The walls and floors of her home were full of feces. At one point, her sink was so clogged ...
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