A little more than six years ago, Maria Owens was convicted of killing Jaylen Kelly just three days shy of his first birthday.
This week, Owens, 51, was sentenced to life in prison following an appeals process that reversed an earlier conviction on lesser charges, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
An hour before the 11-month-old was injured, Kelly’s parents had told Owens, who ran an unlicensed day care, they would be putting him and his 3-year-old sister in “a more structured day care environment,” according to the release. Shortly after learning about their decision on June 1, 2011, Owens called 911 to say the baby was not breathing.
The 11-month-old was rushed to the hospital, then flown to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta-Egleston, where he died from his injuries, the Fulton DA’s office said. An autopsy revealed he had a fractured back and lost nearly half his blood.
The Fulton DA’s office said Owens admitted to striking the baby, but only to relieve Kelly’s cough related to bronchitis. The Fulton County Medical Examiner disputed the claim, saying an immense amount of force would be required to fracture the child’s back, according to the release.
Owens was later charged with two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children and felony involuntary manslaughter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk vacated the murder charge, and Owens was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to the release. The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office appealed the conviction, and the Georgia Supreme Court ruled an error on the verdict form affected the jury’s verdict.
The conviction was reversed, and Owens was given a new trial, which Newkirk also presided over, where she was convicted of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and first-degree cruelty to children, according to the release.
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