The End of the Story

Case BackgroundTrial (Updated: 10.16.09)Sentence: Updated: 12.18.09View Sources

Kevin Andre Towles is accused of beating his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son to death in December 2006.

Geontae Glass was the son of Shalinda Glass, also faces charges related to her son’s beating death. Shalinda Glass drove to a gas station and went inside. She then came outside and told people her son had been sleeping in the backseat of the car and the car had been stolen. An AMBER Alert was issued for the child. Police located the vehicle with Geontae’s body still seatbelted in the backseat. The vehicle was located on property owned by Towles. Shalinda Glass told police that Towles had beaten her son to death because he brought home a bad report card.

Towles was supposed to stand trial earlier this year. However, the judge declared a mistrial while jurors were in the process of filling out the questionaires. I am not sure why the judge declared the mistrial. If convicted Towles faces the death penalty. The trial begins on October 5, 2009 with jury selection

Trial 

October 5, 2009

The trial begins today with jury selection.

October 10, 2009

So far the jury has heard that Towles allegedly beat Geontae to death the day he came home with a ‘bad’ report card. The most powerful testimony came from Geontae’s now 10-year-old sister. She testified the last time she saw her brother Geontae walking and talking was on December 3, 200t6when Kevin Towles took him out behind their house. When Kevin returned, she said he was carrying Geontae and he was limp. She said Towles just walked around after that as if everything was normal. During her testimony it was reported that Towles began crying. On another day of testimony, the pathologist said that if Geontae had received medical attention he would have survived his injuries.

October 16, 2009

The jury found Kevin Towles guilty of the murder of 5-year-old Geontae Glass. The jury deliberated for about two hours on Friday to determine whether Towles should spend the remainder of his life in prison or be put to death. The jury recommended he be put to death in a vote of 11 – 1. The judge will sentence Towles on December 15. He can keep with the jury’s suggestion or choose another punishment for Towles.

After reading the reported testimony of Dr. Emily Ward, a forensic scientist from the Huntsville office of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, regarding the severity of Geontae’s wounds observed during her examination I am not surprised the jurors voted for death.

Ward told jurors that Towles beat the five-year-old so badly that the damage went straight to his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down. She says the injuries indicate Towles used no restraint in beating Geontae with a wooden stick. ¹

Not that I have any sympathy whatsoever for Kevin Towles, but it always surprises me when I hear how a defense attorney attempts to keep their client from the gallows. Aside from the usual family members who took the stand and asked the jurors and the court to show mercy on their son, brother, etc., the best Towles’s attorney could do was call a psychiatrist to the stand. Of course he opined that Kevin Towles is not a cold-blooded killer and should not be put to death. He, at one point suggested that perhaps Geontae provoked Towles into attacking him. He also had to admit on cross-examination that Towles has shown no remorse for the killing. Well, I would imagine if the testimony from the forensic scientist didn’t sway all of the jurors, certainly the psychiatrist’s suggestion that the 5-year-old victim was in some way at fault swayed the rest of them to the death side of the fence. This is one of those times when a defense attorney probably wished he could object to his own witness’ testimony.

Sentence 

December 18, 2009

Kevin Towles was formally sentenced to death by lethal injection on Friday December 15, 2009. The sentence was pronounced by Etowah County Circuit Judge Allen Millican who said “all mitigating circumstances had been taken into consideration for the sentence”. There was no comment in the media about Towles’ reaction to the sentence.

Sources 

Car Left Running Stolen with Child Inside, WSMV.com, Last Accessed: October 5, 2009.

Jury Selection Monday in Geontae Glass Case, WAAYTV.com, Last Accessed: October 5, 2009.

WAAYTV.com, Various video updates of the trial, Last Accessed: October 10, 2009.

Kevin Towles Jury Recommends Death, WAAYTV.com, Last Accessed: October 16, 2009.

Katherine Poythress, Towles Sentenced to Death in Geontae Glass Case, The Gadsentimes.com, Last Accessed: December 18, 2009.

1. Carson Clark, Jury Recommends Death Penalty for Kevin Towles, WHNT.com, Last Accessed: October 16, 2009. [↩]