Sears v. State

NAHMIAS, Justice.

Tory Sears was convicted of felony murder in connection with the death of a 16-month-old girl. On appeal, he argues that the evidence was insufficient to show he acted with the requisite mens rea and that the trial court erred by declining to instruct the jury on his proposed accident defense. We affirm.

1. The evidence presented at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, showed the following.1 Sears and Ebonique Ricks lived together in Clayton County with Ricks’s ten-year-old son Keiyon and her sixteen-month-old twin girls Jakyila, the victim, and Jakayla.…