by Kolapo Olapoju

Richard McTear, a 26-year-old Florida man, has been convicted of murder on Thursday, 31 July, for throwing a 3-month-old boy out a moving car window along an interstate, killing the toddler on impact with the ground.

Prosuctors say McTear got into a fight with ex-girlfriend Jasmine Bedwell, 22, after she returned home with her son from a friend’s house in 2009.

McTear blocked the door when Bedwell tried to flee and grabbed her son, Emanuel Wesley Murray, during the struggle. He then took off down Interstate 275 in Tampa, throwing the baby out of the window, prosecutors said.

Although the baby’s blood stains were found on McTear’s shorts and in a car he was known to drive, defense attorneys argued that McTear was innocent and questioned the mother’s credibility.

The jury deliberated for over seven hours before finding McTear guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, battery and aggravated child abuse charges.

McTear’s sentence could be up to a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, with jurors having the option to recommend the death penalty.

Sentencing will be done on Monday, 4 August.

writer