OGDEN, Utah (AP) - The Latest on a Utah woman accused of child abuse homicide in the daycare death of a baby boy (all times local):
2:15 p.m.
A northern Utah woman has been found guilty of child abuse homicide in the 2014 death of a baby boy at the daycare she ran out of her home.
Utah Courts spokesman Geoff Fattah announced the verdict Tuesday afternoon on Twitter Tuesday. It took jurors in Ogden less than one day to reach a decision in the case of 36-year-old Tisha Morley, who now faces up to life in prison.
Prosecutors said Morley slammed the head of 8-month-old Lincoln Penland on a changing table in frustration.
The state medical examiner found that Lincoln died of blunt force trauma to the head, with his death ruled a homicide.
Morley’s attorney Logan Bushell countered that the baby’s older, 3-year-old brother caused the injuries. Bushell asked the jury to find her guilty of the lesser charge of negligent homicide.
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10:51 a.m.
A jury on Tuesday began deliberations to decide if they believe the assertion from prosecutors that a northern Utah daycare owner killed an 8-month-old boy by slamming his head on a changing table in frustration.
Tisha Morley’s attorney offered an alternate explanation during a trial that ended Monday in Ogden. Defense lawyer Logan Bushell says baby Lincoln Penland’s older, 3-year-old brother caused the injuries.
The Standard-Examiner newspaper reports (https://bit.ly/2qNA94a ) that Bushell says the 36-year-old Morley acknowledges leaving the boy alone at her in-home daycare center in Roy and asked the jury to find her guilty of the lesser charge of negligent homicide.
Prosecutor Branden Miles counters that Morley is guilty of child-abuse homicide. He says she was the only adult in the home and scoffed at the theory that a toddler could cause the blunt force trauma that killed Lincoln.
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Information from: Standard-Examiner, https://www.standard.net
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