Jones v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseRico Jones was found guilty of felony murder, five counts of cruelty to children in the second degree, and one count of possession of marijuana in connection with the drowning death of Camyria Arnold. Jones was babysitting the child, disciplining her for wetting the bed. After the children got out of the bath, Jones told Camyria to lie down for a nap. Jones then fell asleep for “five to ten minutes” before waking up to a sibling’s crying. When he woke up, Jones said, he noticed Camyria walking strangely, as though she were dizzy or drunk, and she looked drowsy. As Jones explained it, he thought Camyria might have swallowed some medicine, so he put his finger down her throat and she threw up a little bit of water and red fluid. Jones said that he then held Camyria under a cold shower for one or two seconds to try to wake her up. He said that Camyria seemed more alert for a few minutes, but then began acting drowsy again, so he rushed her to the hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital, Camyria was unresponsive, barely breathing, and had a core body temperature of 91 degrees, indicating that her body was shutting down and she was “about half dead.” Her eyes were fixed and dilated, suggesting significant brain injury. On appeal, Jones contended the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions and that the trial judge erred by expressing an opinion about the evidence in violation of OCGA 17- 8-57. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed the evidence was insufficient to support Jones’s convictions for cruelty to children in the second degree by smoking marijuana in the children’s presence, and reversed the convictions for those three counts. The evidence was legally sufficient to support the jury’s guilty verdicts on the remaining counts, however, and the Court found no violation of OCGA 17-8-57. Jones’s remaining convictions were therefore affirmed.
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