Murder Conviction Upheld For Mom In Child's Fatal Overdose

CARTERSVILLE, GA — A Cartersville woman's murder conviction was upheld Monday by the Georgia Supreme Court, which rejected the defendant's argument that the evidence presented in the trial was not enough to render her guilty of murder in her child's fatal drug overdose.

The court disagreed with Stephanie Stephens' argument that prosecutors did not show the drug charge she was convicted on was connected to the death of her child, 14-month-old Jewell Williams.

Stephens and Anthony Tawon Williams lived at a Cartersville home with their children, including Jewell.

Witnesses told police that the pair sold crack-cocaine from the house. Another witness said that "while Stephens sometimes ordered the children out of the room during a drug deal, Jewell would typically come back into the room before the drug deal was done," the court said Monday in its news release. The drugs were kept in Stephens' purse or under the arm of a living room couch.

Jewell found and ingested some of the cocaine on the night of June 15, 2007. The next morning, emergency medical personnel were dispatched to a 9-1-1 call at the home where they found the child in "severe distress," the court added.

Jewell had a weak pulse and a gasping breathing pattern. She was transported to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead. The autopsy conducted showed Jewell died from "acute cocaine toxicity," the court said. During a search of the home, law enforcement personnel noticed a substance on the floor in front of the sofa and inside a vacuum cleaner that later tested positive for cocaine.

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A Bartow County grand jury in September 2008 indicted Stephens and Williams on charges of felony murder, cruelty to children, contributing to the deprivation of a minor, possession of cocaine and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine. The pair were arrested in October 2008 by a fugitive task force in Atlanta.

Four women testified in court that they visited the house on several occasions to buy cocaine, "most often from Stephens but sometimes from Williams," the court added.

Stephens and Williams were both convicted on all charges following a four-day jury trial. On Nov. 2, 2015, the state Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding Williams' convictions and life-in-prison sentence. Stephens was sentenced on one count — felony murder based on possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute.

Supreme Court Justice Nels S.D. Peterson said the judges rejected the argument put forth by Stephens, which was the same defense Williams' claimed in his appeal.

Stephens argued that the state failed to prove that the drug offense was "dangerous per se or created a foreseeable risk of death," the court's news release said.

“But as we explained in rejecting essentially the same argument by Stephens’s co-defendant, ‘the facts support the unmistakable conclusion that the victim ingested the deadly dose of cocaine after finding it in the place where [Williams and Stephens] stored it to sell others,’” the opinion says. “Accordingly, the evidence is sufficient to support Stephens’s conviction for felony murder arising out of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.”

The Court also found that the merger or vacating of all of Stephens’ convictions except for the felony murder conviction for which she was sentenced, renders moot her arguments as to any counts other than that one.

Stephens is serving her sentence at Arrendale State Prison in northeast Georgia while Williams is housed at the Coffee Correctional Facility in south Georgia, state Department of Corrections records show.

Photo: Stephanie Stephens. Credit: Georgia Department of Corrections