TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - Amanda Bacon has been found guilty of killing her 6-month-old son Avery. Bacon was convicted of murder and child endangering charges by a Lucas County jury on Friday.
The jury found Bacon not guilty of aggravated murder, which could have meant the death penalty for Bacon. Instead the 26-year-old faces 15 years to life in prison at sentencing next week.
During the trial, prosecutors showed the manner in which they said Amanda bashed the child's head onto a hard surface, which lead to his death 2 days later.
Bacon's defense refuted those claims and attempted to redirect the blame to Bacon's roommate, Frank Jones. Jones testified that he allowed Bacon and her son to live with him in exchange for sex from Bacon. Jones told the jury he walked in the night Avery was hurt to find Bacon throwing him.
Bacon had claimed she was out of the house at the time of the injury, and said Jones was responsible.
The prosecution believes Bacon's story had too many lies in it, and that was what led the jury to convict her of murder.
"She maintained that Avery was conscious after he sustained his injuries and all the experts said that that was not possible. And I think that that was the key lie in all of her lies that convinced the jury that she was the one that was responsible," said Prosecutor Frank Spryszak.
The couple who was attempting to legally adopt Avery hopes that a lesson can be learned through this tragic story.
"As people, we just need to spread the word to let these parents know that if they don't want their kid, there's places to drop these kids off at. Why hurt them? You know they're safe havens. You can drop them off at a fire department, police station and they're not even going to ask you questions," said Charles Keel, who was in the process of adopting Avery when he died.
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