MARIETTA, Ga. — Jurors began deliberations Wednesday in the trial of two parents accused of beating their 8-year-old son to death.
During closings arguments, a prosecutor lit nine candles on a birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to Josef Smith, who she said never got to celebrate his ninth birthday because his parents killed him.
Prosecutor Eleanor Dixon alleges Joseph and Sonya Smith murdered their son by a combination of blunt-force trauma to the head and asphyxiation after locking him in a wooden chest at their Georgia home on Oct. 8, 2003.
"These two parents are murderers," Dixon said. "This is what two people who kill their child look like."
The Smiths are charged with four counts of felony murder, five counts of first-degree cruelty to children, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of false imprisonment for their son's death.
Dixon told the panel of four men and 10 women that a guilty verdict would allow them to "speak the truth for little Josef."
"You are the voice of the community," Dixon said. "You can stand up and say to Cobb County that we don't let parents abuse children to the point that they die. This is not what we do to children."
The prosecutor showed the jurors the gruesome photos of Josef's body that she contends is covered by the fresh and old wounds of the child abuse inflicted by his parents — as part of their belief in the Remnant Fellowship Church, which encourages parents to physically discipline their children and maintain strict dietary control.
She reminded the panel that both Joseph and Sonya Smith voluntarily told the police that they "disciplined" their 8-year-old son with glue sticks, belts, extension cords, high heeled shoes, coat angers and a wooden paddle called the "butt buster."
"Picture after picture, through the actions of these defendants, they created all these injuries and more," Dixon said.
Defense attorney Manubir Arora urged the jury to look past emotional case presented by the prosecution and focus instead on the science in the case.
"You could just look at the pictures and just say it looks like child abuse to me," Arora said. "But we will prove our case on science and not emotion."
Arora said "four out of five" doctors who testified on behalf of both the state and defense said blunt-force trauma to the head was not the cause of death.
He said the claim that Josef died from asphyxiation from being locked in a wooden box was based solely on the opinion of Georgia's Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Kris Sperry, who admitted the first time he heard about the box was on television last week.
"If the state's doctors can't agree on a theory or can't tell you what the cause of death was, how can they bring these charges and ask you to convict?" Arora told jurors.
Arora teared up as he pleaded the Smiths' innocence one last time before the jury.
"I'm going to let you in on a little secret: They can't prove the case because the science doesn't add up," Arora said. "I'm sorry their son died, but they didn't do it. They didn't do it."
The Smiths face a potential sentence of 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murder
Cobb County Superior Court Judge James Bodiford said he will allow the panel to deliberate as late as 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday. If they are unable to reach a verdict, they will begin again at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.
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