BRANTLEY COUNTY, Ga. – A couple were sentenced to prison in the February 2017 death of the woman's 16-month-old daughter, according to the Brantley County District Attorney's Office.
The District Attorney’s Office confirmed Wednesday to News4Jax that the boyfriend of the child's mother, James Paul Cutshall III, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, to serve 10 years.
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He was also sentenced to five years for an escape attempt, but that will be concurrent.
The District Attorney's Office said the child's mother, Marley Rena Wilson, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, to serve 20 years.
Deputies and emergency personnel responded Feb. 12, 2017, to a report of a child in respiratory distress at a home on Wilson Road in the Raybon community. The girl, who had visible bruising on her stomach, was barely breathing and was taken to an emergency room in Waycross, where she died, according to the Brantley County Sheriff's Office.
An autopsy found that blunt-force trauma contributed to Anniston Wilson's death.
Wilson told deputies at the time that she had put the toddler down with a bottle of milk, and 5 minutes later heard her having problems breathing, according to the Sheriff's Office report. Wilson told deputies that she performed CPR on her daughter.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called to help investigate the toddler's death, and Wilson and Cutshall were arrested.
According to the District Attorney's Office, the couple initially blamed each other before pleading guilty. The couple’s other child was placed in foster care.