Georgia v. Smith significant event death
Joseph and Sonya Smith, a couple who lived in Mableton, Georgia, were convicted of child abuse and murder in February 2007 for the 2003 death of Josef Smith, their eight-year-old son. This case prompted authorities to raid the family's church in 2004 because it supports corporal punishment. The Smiths were both sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison, the maximum sentence. Joseph is currently incarcerated at Macon State Prison, while Sonya is incarcerated at Arrendale State Prison.The case
Josef Smith died at a children's hospital after paramedics were called to the family's home in Mableton, an Atlanta suburb.In October 2003 the boys' parents had told authorities Josef had passed out and never regained consciousness after the family gathered in the kitchen to participate in a prayer session with their church via the Internet. Mr. Smith reportedly told police that when he went to pick Josef up he was "warm to the touch, wet with sweat, and unresponsive," that he thought his son was overheating, that he had carried the boy out to the carport and laid him down on the concrete hoping it would have a cooling effect, but that it did not. They then called 911. Cobb County fire and rescue responded and found the eight-year-old lying on his back in the dining room, not breathing and without a pulse. He died a day later; cause of death being either blunt force trauma or asphyxiation Cobb County medical examiners concluded that eight-year-old Josef Smith died as a result of "acute and chronic" abuse. Police said that the parents often locked the boy in a closet and forced him to pray to a picture of Jesus.The Smiths admitted disciplining their son by striking him with a glue stick, but claimed the punishment never rose to the level of abuse.
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