A jury found Curtis Leon Copeland, 28, guilty of capital murder Thursday in the 2010 death of 3-year-old Jesse Fleming Fisher Jr. The verdict brings with it a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole.
Copeland was minding Jesse and his 1-year-old brother on March 30, 2010, while Sharon Worthy, the children’s mother and Copeland’s girlfriend, was at a hospital giving birth. During three days of testimony this week, the jury heard a taped interview that two Texas Rangers conducted with Copeland on April 5, 2010. During that interview, Copeland said he became angry with Jesse that morning after he soiled himself and the area around him.
The fatal injury came when Copeland grabbed the toddler and threw him to the floor with great force, according to medical testimony.
Copeland told the Rangers that it was about 10 a.m. when he threw Jesse to the floor. But he did not call 911 until about 4 p.m., after Jesse began having trouble breathing.
The jury, composed of nine men and three women, was read a long charge that gave them the option of lesser findings, including murder and injury to a child. Jurors deliberated for more than two and a half hours Thursday afternoon. . . .
Investigators testified that they went back into the home after the April 5 interview to retrieve the paddle that Copeland told investigators he had used to hit Jesse and the boots that Copeland said he was wearing when he kicked Jesse.
Prosecutor Tony Paul told the jury that Copeland’s description of the events — in which he admitted that he didn’t know why he “gets so angry sometimes” — offered only a glimpse into what really happened to Jesse that morning. . . .
Jesse had many bruises on both the front and back of his head, and while his skull was not fractured, his pelvis and sacrum were, doctors said. In addition, he had bruising all over his body, including his chest, back and bottom, arms and legs, feet and ears.
The medical examiner detailed for the jury how Jesse’s brain, swollen and bleeding, had been pushed to one side from the throw. . . .
Prosecutors brought Jesse Fisher Sr. to the stand late Wednesday to introduce one of only two photos the jury saw of Jesse as a happy, rambunctious child. . . .
Defense attorney Bruce Isaacks told the jury that Jesse’s mother and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services shared the blame in Jesse’s death, and that he did not believe Copeland intended to kill Jesse, nor did he know that the beating would lead to Jesse’s death.
It was only when Jesse’s breathing became labored that Copeland realized Jesse was in trouble, Isaacks said. . . .
During the trial, Isaacks consistently objected to all evidence introduced in relation to an injury Jesse suffered in and around his rectum. Copeland admitted in the April 5 interview to sticking his finger in Jesse’s rectum. The state, however, did not allege sexual assault. . . .