A DeKalb man was found guilty of murder after being charged with fatally beating his fiancé’s two-year-old son in 2012.
On the day of incident, Sawyer stated that he called 911 when the child, Michael Weeks, did not wake from his afternoon nap. When the police arrived, Sawyer told police that he was in the bedroom while the child was playing in the living room of the apartment. Sawyer went on to disclose that when he went to check on the child, he saw him laying down so he took the child to the bedroom and laid with him until they both fell asleep. Sawyer stated that when he woke, he went to get something from the kitchen and that is when he noticed that the child was not moving. Sawyer told police that he tried shaking the child in attempts …show more content…
The case went on for the course of 7 days, ending on July 15, 2016. During the trial multiple witnesses took the stand that varied from the maintenance men that worked for the apartment complex where the incident occurred to the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the child. The state’s strategy was to use legal evidence to prove a burden of proof by using anything from text messages to the defendant’s own testimony in order prove that the defendant was guilty of all charges. In response, the defense used their witnesses that have seen Danielle Calhoun use physical punishments on various occasions to put the death of the child on the mother. These arguments persisted by the state and the defense for five days until they both delivered their closing arguments. After the jurors were instructed by the judge, and the lawyers made adaptations to the indictment, the jurors went back into the jury room to begin deliberating. After a day in a half, the juror came out of the jury room and the lawyers were summoned along with the defendant to hear the decision. The decision, delivered by the foreperson, was that Devin Sawyer was guilty of felony murder, 1st degree child cruelty, aggravated assault, and three counts of aggravated battery for the death of Michael Weeks, Jr. The sentencing for Sawyer was based on a set of criteria for the laws that were at state. Devin Sawyer was sentenced for one life sentence with a chance of parole with the addition of thirty
On the day of incident, Sawyer stated that he called 911 when the child, Michael Weeks, did not wake from his afternoon nap. When the police arrived, Sawyer told police that he was in the bedroom while the child was playing in the living room of the apartment. Sawyer went on to disclose that when he went to check on the child, he saw him laying down so he took the child to the bedroom and laid with him until they both fell asleep. Sawyer stated that when he woke, he went to get something from the kitchen and that is when he noticed that the child was not moving. Sawyer told police that he tried shaking the child in attempts …show more content…
The case went on for the course of 7 days, ending on July 15, 2016. During the trial multiple witnesses took the stand that varied from the maintenance men that worked for the apartment complex where the incident occurred to the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the child. The state’s strategy was to use legal evidence to prove a burden of proof by using anything from text messages to the defendant’s own testimony in order prove that the defendant was guilty of all charges. In response, the defense used their witnesses that have seen Danielle Calhoun use physical punishments on various occasions to put the death of the child on the mother. These arguments persisted by the state and the defense for five days until they both delivered their closing arguments. After the jurors were instructed by the judge, and the lawyers made adaptations to the indictment, the jurors went back into the jury room to begin deliberating. After a day in a half, the juror came out of the jury room and the lawyers were summoned along with the defendant to hear the decision. The decision, delivered by the foreperson, was that Devin Sawyer was guilty of felony murder, 1st degree child cruelty, aggravated assault, and three counts of aggravated battery for the death of Michael Weeks, Jr. The sentencing for Sawyer was based on a set of criteria for the laws that were at state. Devin Sawyer was sentenced for one life sentence with a chance of parole with the addition of thirty