Monday 2 May 2011

SBS: Georgia: Sammy Brinson sentence affirmed on appeal

April 26, 2011  Jan Skutch
The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed the 2009 conviction and life in prison sentence for a Rincon man in the slaying of his 8-week-old daughter, Adriana Rosier.
Sammy Brinson Jr., 39, was convicted in Effingham County Superior Court in January 2009 in the shaking death of his daughter at his home in Rincon. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Justice Hugh Thompson, writing for the court, said the defense challenge to the failure of prosecutors to prove venue — that the crime occurred in Effingham County — did not invalidate the conviction or sentence.
Although prosecutors presented evidence that the crime occurred in Brinson’s home in Rincon, they failed to show in testimony that Rincon is in Effingham County, the court said.
But the court found the state did show that Effingham County 911 dispatchers received the call, that the county’s emergency medical services responded and that the hospital physician at Memorial University Medical Center called the Effingham County sheriff to report a crime committed at Brinson’s address.
“Viewing the evidence as a whole, we find it sufficient to prove venue beyond a reasonable doubt,” Thompson wrote. “The evidence was sufficient to enable any rational trier of fact to find (Brinson) guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted.”
The victim was born in 2006 to Lashonda Rosier and Brinson. On the night of May 10, 2006, the mother dropped the baby at Brinson’s house. Early the next morning, Rincon police received a 911 call from the home asking for help with a “non-breathing infant.”
When police arrived they found the infant on the floor with no pulse and cold to the touch.
Brinson told police he had put the infant to sleep the night before by giving her a bottle and later awoke to her gasping for breath.
He called Rosier and together they drove to the hospital.
The pediatric specialist determined the baby had a traumatic brain injury and a subsequent autopsy found the infant received multiple severe injuries to her spine and head, consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome, according to documents filed in the case.
Jurors found Brinson guilty of murder, cruelty to children and other crimes.
http://savannahnow.com/news/2011-04-26/rincon-mans-conviction-upheld-infants-death

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