Posted 1:51 am Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Winnsboro Man Gets 33 Years In Child Beating Case
By DAYNA WORCHEL
Staff Writer
A Smith County jury took 40 minutes on Friday to sentence a Winnsboro man to 33 years in prison for beating a 3-year-old girl so severely that she suffered permanent brain damage and blindness.
Staff Writer
A Smith County jury took 40 minutes on Friday to sentence a Winnsboro man to 33 years in prison for beating a 3-year-old girl so severely that she suffered permanent brain damage and blindness.
The child had to be airlifted to the Children's Medical Center of Dallas for treatment of her 33 separate injuries, according to testimony from the emergency room doctor who was on duty the night the girl's mother brought her in.
Cody Lane Davis, 27, will have to serve at least 16 1/2 years of that sentence before he is eligible for parole, Smith County Assistant District Attorney Whitney Tharpe said afterward. Davis was charged with one count of injury to a child, a first-degree felony that could have brought either probation or a sentence of up to life in prison.
Cody Lane Davis, 27, will have to serve at least 16 1/2 years of that sentence before he is eligible for parole, Smith County Assistant District Attorney Whitney Tharpe said afterward. Davis was charged with one count of injury to a child, a first-degree felony that could have brought either probation or a sentence of up to life in prison.
The verdict capped days of emotional testimony from the girl's mother, Malesha Johnson, 22, who told the jury that she found her daughter unable to sit up when she went to wake her in March.
Ms. Johnson testified in Judge Christi Kennedy's 114th District Court that she took her child to the emergency room at East Texas Medical Center but did not notice the many bruises and injuries on the girl's body before she did so.
Ms. Johnson testified in Judge Christi Kennedy's 114th District Court that she took her child to the emergency room at East Texas Medical Center but did not notice the many bruises and injuries on the girl's body before she did so.
Dr. Daniel Baber, an emergency room doctor who treated the girl, said his first thoughts upon seeing her were that she must be a victim of child abuse.
“She had 33 separate injuries that were in various stages of healing,” he said as he described the girl's examination in court. Her hair was thin and brittle and patches of it were missing, he said.
“She had 33 separate injuries that were in various stages of healing,” he said as he described the girl's examination in court. Her hair was thin and brittle and patches of it were missing, he said.
An emergency room nurse also testified the child had to be given several containers of saline solution intravenously before her body made enough tears to be able to cry.
Ms. Johnson, who pleaded guilty to two counts of injury to a child in September, testified Jan. 31 that she worked nights as a stripper at the Time Out Gentleman's Club in Tyler, and Davis watched her three young children for her.
Ms. Johnson, who pleaded guilty to two counts of injury to a child in September, testified Jan. 31 that she worked nights as a stripper at the Time Out Gentleman's Club in Tyler, and Davis watched her three young children for her.
Ms. Johnson will be sentenced on Feb. 10, according to the Smith County website. She has been held in the Smith County Jail since May on bonds totaling more than $1 million.
Ms. Johnson and Davis lived together in Whitehouse after moving from New York in order to be closer to Davis’ family, Ms. Johnson testified.
“I didn’t interact much with the kids — I worked from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. during the week, and when I came home, I went to bed,” she said in response to questioning from Ms. Tharpe about how she could miss that her child was so thin and had missing patches of hair from her head.
Jacob Putnam served as co-counsel with Ms. Tharpe.
Defense attorney Greg Waldron called the situation a “tragedy” during his opening statements to the jury last week, and discussed how the child’s mother already had pleaded guilty to the charge of injury to a child.
He told the jury how his client had full responsibility for the three young children as their mother worked at night. Davis was not the biological father of any of the children.
Ms. Johnson and Davis lived together in Whitehouse after moving from New York in order to be closer to Davis’ family, Ms. Johnson testified.
“I didn’t interact much with the kids — I worked from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. during the week, and when I came home, I went to bed,” she said in response to questioning from Ms. Tharpe about how she could miss that her child was so thin and had missing patches of hair from her head.
Jacob Putnam served as co-counsel with Ms. Tharpe.
Defense attorney Greg Waldron called the situation a “tragedy” during his opening statements to the jury last week, and discussed how the child’s mother already had pleaded guilty to the charge of injury to a child.
He told the jury how his client had full responsibility for the three young children as their mother worked at night. Davis was not the biological father of any of the children.
