A trial has begun for a Warner Robins mother accused of killing her two-year-old child in 2020. Kianna Davis, 35, is facing a potential life sentence as she stands trial on charges she killed her young son, Karter Ambrose.
Opening statements began at her trial on Monday, July 13. Davis, who pleaded not guilty, faces seven charges, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and cruelty to children, per 13WMAZ.
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Davis was indicted in October 2023 alongside her then-boyfriend, Kiyon Benton. His charges, however, are still pending, and he will be tried separately. He too has pleaded not guilty.
Who is Kianna Davis?
At the time of Ambrose’s death, Davis was working as a teacher in the Houston County School District through a program at Central Georgia Technical College.
On November 17, 2020, Ambrose was rushed into his pediatrician’s office, wearing a diaper and T-shirt. Prosecutor Justin Duane said the child’s pulse was disappearing. He was also cold to the touch and his eyes were rolled back in his head.
Doctors desperately attempted CPR and called 911. However, Ambrose was pronounced dead after he was taken to a nearby hospital.
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Ambrose had a documented history of medical issues, including asthma. In his opening statement, Davis’ attorney described the kid as a “sickly child.”
Duane said that Ambrose’s cause of death was determined to be blunt force injury to his abdomen that caused a lacerated liver. “This is a homicide, no doubt about it,” Duane said, telling the jury that the baby also had injuries to his torso, his genitalia and his head.
Abrose was in custody of Davis and her boyfriend when he died.
“During this trial, you will have the urge, I suspect, to try to pick who did it,” Duane said in his opening statement to the jury. “Which one beat him? Did they both beat him? I’m sorry to tell you that I do not have the answer to every question that you are going to have in this trial. But the testimony you are going to hear is that the beating or beatings this child sustained were only when the defendant or the defendant and her boyfriend or the boyfriend had custody. Sole access to this child. They are parties to each other’s crimes.”
Davis previously offered several explanations for her son’s injuries, including saying that he jumped off a couch and a bed, and that he suffered from diabetes. She also claimed that he was injured riding his bike.
Davis’ attorney, Jeffrey Grube, stressed that the prosecution bears the burden of proving its case and that his client does not need to offer any explanation.
“She doesn’t have to. It’s not her burden,” he said. “She doesn’t have to prove to you that her only child died because he fell off a bed or bumped into a table or on the handlebars of his little bicycle.”
