Smith v. State

The evidence supported the first defendant's conviction for the malice murder of her 30-month-old daughter.

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Makayla Mack was 30 months old when she died as a result of blunt-force head trauma and strangulation. Both appellant Thomasina Beverly Mack, Makayla’s mother, and appellant Demario Steven Smith, appellant Mack’s boyfriend at the time the child died, were with the child during the time period within which the fatal injuries were believed to have been inflicted. In a joint trial, appellants were convicted of and sentenced to life imprisonment for the malice murder of the child.1 The testimony of the deputy chief medical examiner who performed an autopsy on the child and medical personnel who examined the child in several hospitals, taken together, established that the child had an indented ligature mark around her neck that was consistent with having been inflicted by a telephone cord, hemorrhaging in her eyes and around her hyoid bone, both signs of strangulation, and an adult human bite mark on her left arm. She had ear injuries that usually were the result of inflicted trauma, internal injuries to her head, and internal bleeding on the brain. Appellant Mack informed medical personnel the child had suffered several seizures that caused her to hit her head the day before she died, had been scratching herself due to what Mack believed was an allergic reaction, and had been treated for eczema. A cousin of the victim’s biological father testified that she had seen appellant Mack spank the child and pull or pinch the child’s ears when the child was 8-9 months old.

People who were with appellant Mack when she was told her child had died physicians, social worker, investigator for the GBI medical examiner, the hospital liaison for the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services testified to Mack’s flat affect and lack of emotion upon hearing that the child had died. The social worker testified that, while she was completing an assessment called for when child neglect or abuse is suspected, appellant Mack asked several times if she were going to jail.

Smith v. State

The evidence supported the first defendant's conviction for the malice murder of her 30-month-old daughter.

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