People sentenced to the death penalty are typically found guilty of the most cruel, merciless true-crime-documentary worthy offenses. It’s safe to say this Mississippi man’s crime of torturing and killing his toddler son fell into that category.
However, when you find out the reason why he did it, you’ll be even more horrified.
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A Gulfport, Miss. jury found 41-year-old Joseph David Heard guilty in the brutal murder of his 2-year-old son, Hayden, in 2021. Police records say his wife, Hailey, called 911 after finding her son dead from drowning in the bathtub, per WXXV 25 News. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.
The two were arrested just a month later on child abuse charges. However, details on the state of the child’s body at his time of death led to an even more serious charge: capital murder.
Investigators revealed the boy was riddled with bruises and suffered a broken bone, per the report. Hailey’s testimony in court solidified that something awful happened to Hayden before he died… and it wasn’t an accident.
Read more from WLOX News:
Hailey’s testimony in court on Friday revealed more details. She explained that in the hours before placing her 911 call, Hayden soiled his diaper and then took too long to get a juice box from the kitchen. Joseph, who admitted to having a temper during the trial, became enraged and began to beat the child in the head and chest repeatedly.
“He was a two-year-old punished for soiling a diaper and crying,” said Assistant District Attorney George Huffman. “He was beaten for being a child.
However, Joseph’s abuse of Hayden was persistent. During his time as Hayden’s primary caretaker in the months leading up to the murder, Joseph would force the toddler to sit on a potty-training seat for hours, pop open blisters from a second-degree burn on his hand with a spatula and regularly brag about beating the child in text messages to Hailey.
Hailey pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and agreed to testify against her husband, the report says. Joseph was found guilty of capital murder and just a day later was sentenced to death.
The jury took 45 minutes to deliberate on their decision.
“He was a two-year-old punished for soiling a diaper and crying. He was beaten for being a child,” said Assistant District Attorney George Huffman, per the report.
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