Mom, boyfriend charged in 3-year-old's beating death

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Murder charges are pending against an Atlanta woman and her boyfriend after the woman's 3-year-old child died of blunt force trauma, police said Thursday night.

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Fulton County Sheriff's Office Shuntae Battle

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Fulton County Sheriff's Office Juan Johnson

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Shuntae Battle, 23, and her boyfriend, 30-year-old Juan Johnson, told Atlanta police they noticed the girl was having trouble breathing and were planning to drive her to the hospital, Officer James Polite said.

When officers arrived around 1:15 a.m. Thursday, they found the child unresponsive in a vehicle in the 800 block of Donald Lee Hollowell Avenue, Polite said.

The child was flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding, where she was pronounced dead at 4:12 a.m., he said.

The preliminary autopsy indicated the child died of blunt force trauma to the torso, Polite said.

Battle and Johnson were initially charged with aggravated assault. Those charges are now expected to be upgraded to murder, police said.

The two are expected to have their first court appearance Friday at 11 a.m., according to Tracy Flanagan with the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.