Whether the government proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Flores's actions constituted child endangerment under the Assimilated Crimes Act when he and his daughter survived a multi-day park journey with limited food resources

Petition er, Hector Flores , was co nvicted, after a trial, of child endangerment. That endangerment occurred during a trip to a national park in Texas but was prosecuted by the federal government under the Assimilated Crimes Act . As indicted, the relevant Texas law, required the government to prove, beyond a reasonable do ubt, that Flores deprived his daughter o f food, and that the deprivation put his daughter in imminent danger of a bodily injury. Flores had taken his daughter on a trip to Big Bend National Park. After their vehicle was disabled and they s pent three days waiting for help, Flores and his daughter hiked through the remainder of the park and unwittingly crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico where they were quickly discovered and apprehended by Mexican authorities. During their journey, they had both foraged for food and asked for food from people they encountered along the way. There was testimony that Flores ’s daughter, at the conclusion of the jou rney, told a Park Ranger that they had gone four days without eating during the trip. There was no evidence that Flores ’s daughter received any sort of medical attention or sustained an injury . Whether there was sufficient evidence of an imminent bodily injury because there was “no indication how or when Flores planne d to end their ‘survival camping.’”