The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the murder convictions and life sentences for a couple in the death of a toddler in Riceboro.

The Supreme Court issued an opinion Monday in the appeal filed by Corey A. Brown for his role in the January 2007 death of 2-year-old Prince Davis Jr. in the home of Brown and Andrea Wilson, his live-in girlfriend. The high court upheld the murder conviction and sentence for Wilson in May.

The following information is from an opinion summary released Monday by the state Supreme Court:

According to the facts at trial, Brown and Wilson agreed to take in the little boy while his mother, who is Wilson’s cousin, was incarcerated. The baby was in the couple’s exclusive care for the next nine months. Those who had previously taken care of Prince described him as a normal, happy baby with a healthy appetite in spite of having occasional flare-ups of asthma. Brown and Wilson, however, told investigators that Prince was sickly, threw tantrums and refused to eat. Brown said they believed the baby was possessed by demons, and they often prayed over him and tried to force him to swallow “prayer oil.”

On Jan. 16, 2007, Brown rode his bicycle to a job site about two miles from home, signing in for work at 5:15 p.m. According to Wilson, sometime after Brown left, she was outside with the toddler and put a Bible on his stomach before she noticed “his head slumped back like he was sleepy.” She took him inside and put him in a car seat while she went to heat up some oatmeal. When she returned, she said she found that the toddler had fallen out of his car seat and was not breathing. She picked him up and ran to a neighbor’s house for help. Paramedics arrived within 10 minutes of the 911 call, but the child was not breathing and had no pulse. Prince was taken to Liberty Regional Medical Center, but he could not be revived and was pronounced dead at 8 p.m.

In February 2007, Brown was formally charged with first-degree murder and cruelty to children. While the prosecution originally filed notice that it would seek the death penalty, it later decided to seek a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. Brown and Wilson were indicted separately, but in 2010, they were tried together.

At trial, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy testified that Prince died sometime between 4 and 6 p.m., and the cause of death was battered child syndrome. Contributing factors were malnutrition, medical neglect, and chronic and acute blunt force trauma. These factors acted in concert, and no isolated injury alone caused his death.

The presence of ketone bodies in the toddler’s urine indicated starvation. At the time he died, Prince weighed only 21 pounds. The medical examiner testified that the child’s lack of sustenance made it harder for his body to recover from all the physical abuse he endured. Other than the oatmeal, investigators found no food suitable for a child in the home, and the couple admitted that they had never sought medical treatment for Prince.

In addition, the child had suffered more than 160 injuries, 44 of which were inflicted during the last two hours of his life. The injuries included bruises and scars all over his body, bruised kidneys, a gangrenous toe (caused by an immersion burn at least a week before his death), blunt force trauma to the brain, and bruised and swollen genitalia.

The defense’s medical expert, however, put the time of death at 6:30 p.m. — after Brown had left for work. While he agreed that the baby was malnourished and had many injuries that were not accidental or self-inflicted, the expert said the combination of the injuries and malnourishment would not have caused his death. Pointing to Wilson’s statement at trial that she believed “if I didn’t put the Bible on him, to be honest, this wouldn’t have happened,” and to evidence of a fresh bruise on the toddler’s abdomen, the defense expert concluded the cause of death was compression asphyxiation, which the medical examiner disputed.

Brown did not testify at trial, but Wilson did, saying she had seen Brown beat the toddler on numerous occasions but was afraid to intervene because he had been abusive to her. Wilson’s cousin also testified that he had seen Brown hit Prince at least twice while he was visiting. Both testified that Brown would hit the baby in the middle of his back by making a chopping motion with his hand. He also beat the child hard with a belt.

Following trial, both Brown and Wilson were convicted of murder and child cruelty and sentenced to life without parole. In May of this year, the high court upheld Wilson’s convictions and prison sentence. With Monday’s opinion, it has upheld Brown’s.

In his appeal, Brown argued among other things that the evidence at trial was insufficient to convict him. But in Monday’s opinion, Justice David Nahmias writes that the state’s high court has rejected all of his arguments, finding that “when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence presented at trial and summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crime for which he was convicted, and in particular to find that Appellant’s participation in depriving Davis of necessary sustenance was a proximate cause of the child’s death.”

The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the murder convictions and life sentences for a couple in the death of a toddler in Riceboro.

The Supreme Court issued an opinion Monday in the appeal filed by Corey A. Brown for his role in the January 2007 death of 2-year-old Prince Davis Jr. in the home of Brown and Andrea Wilson, his live-in girlfriend. The high court upheld the murder conviction and sentence for Wilson in May.

The following information is from an opinion summary released Monday by the state Supreme Court:

            According to the facts at trial, Brown and Wilson agreed to take in the little boy while his mother, who is Wilson’s cousin, was incarcerated. The baby was in the couple’s exclusive care for the next nine months. Those who had previously taken care of Prince described him as a normal, happy baby with a healthy appetite in spite of having occasional flare-ups of asthma. Brown and Wilson, however, told investigators that Prince was sickly, threw tantrums and refused to eat. Brown said they believed the baby was possessed by demons, and they often prayed over him and tried to force him to swallow “prayer oil.”

            On Jan. 16, 2007, Brown rode his bicycle to a job site about two miles from home, signing in for work at 5:15 p.m. According to Wilson, sometime after Brown left, she was outside with the toddler and put a Bible on his stomach before she noticed “his head slumped back like he was sleepy.” She took him inside and put him in a car seat while she went to heat up some oatmeal. When she returned, she said she found that the toddler had fallen out of his car seat and was not breathing. She picked him up and ran to a neighbor’s house for help. Paramedics arrived within 10 minutes of the 911 call, but the child was not breathing and had no pulse. Prince was taken to Liberty Regional Medical Center, but he could not be revived and was pronounced dead at 8 p.m.

            In February 2007, Brown was formally charged with first-degree murder and cruelty to children. While the prosecution originally filed notice that it would seek the death penalty, it later decided to seek a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. Brown and Wilson were indicted separately, but in 2010, they were tried together.

At trial, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy testified that Prince died sometime between 4 and 6 p.m., and the cause of death was battered child syndrome. Contributing factors were malnutrition, medical neglect, and chronic and acute blunt force trauma. These factors acted in concert, and no isolated injury alone caused his death.

The presence of ketone bodies in the toddler’s urine indicated starvation. At the time he died, Prince weighed only 21 pounds. The medical examiner testified that the child’s lack of sustenance made it harder for his body to recover from all the physical abuse he endured. Other than the oatmeal, investigators found no food suitable for a child in the home, and the couple admitted that they had never sought medical treatment for Prince.

In addition, the child had suffered more than 160 injuries, 44 of which were inflicted during the last two hours of his life. The injuries included bruises and scars all over his body, bruised kidneys, a gangrenous toe (caused by an immersion burn at least a week before his death), blunt force trauma to the brain, and bruised and swollen genitalia.

            The defense’s medical expert, however, put the time of death at 6:30 p.m. — after Brown had left for work. While he agreed that the baby was malnourished and had many injuries that were not accidental or self-inflicted, the expert said the combination of the injuries and malnourishment would not have caused his death. Pointing to Wilson’s statement at trial that she believed “if I didn’t put the Bible on him, to be honest, this wouldn’t have happened,” and to evidence of a fresh bruise on the toddler’s abdomen, the defense expert concluded the cause of death was compression asphyxiation, which the medical examiner disputed.

            Brown did not testify at trial, but Wilson did, saying she had seen Brown beat the toddler on numerous occasions but was afraid to intervene because he had been abusive to her. Wilson’s cousin also testified that he had seen Brown hit Prince at least twice while he was visiting. Both testified that Brown would hit the baby in the middle of his back by making a chopping motion with his hand. He also beat the child hard with a belt.

            Following trial, both Brown and Wilson were convicted of murder and child cruelty and sentenced to life without parole. In May of this year, the high court upheld Wilson’s convictions and prison sentence. With Monday’s opinion, it has upheld Brown’s.

            In his appeal, Brown argued among other things that the evidence at trial was insufficient to convict him. But in Monday’s opinion, Justice David Nahmias writes that the state’s high court has rejected all of his arguments, finding that “when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence presented at trial and summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crime for which he was convicted, and in particular to find that Appellant’s participation in depriving Davis of necessary sustenance was a proximate cause of the child’s death.”