Couple Beat Disabled Toddler To Death: Charges

DECATUR, GA — A grand jury has indicted a DeKalb County couple on charges they beat to death their toddler who had severe disabilities.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Eric Ross and Angel Branch, both 21, were indicted on charges of murder in the death of their son, Amir. The couple, being held without bond in DeKalb County Jail, lived off of Covington Highway outside of Decatur.

Amir, according to the AJC, suffered from multiple developmental disabilities that required him to be fed through a tube since his birth in 2014. According to the indictment, handed down earlier this month, Amir suffered abrasions on his face, feet, back and groin from an "unknown object."

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After Amir's death in 2016, the couple were arrested and charged with a single count of child cruelty. The indictments allege that both committed eight counts of child cruelty and a single count of felony murder between May 9-31, 2016, the AJC reported.

Branch's aunt, Rochelle Evans, told the paper the couple had moved from Chicago to the Decatur area to get away from gang violence. She said she doesn't believe the couple hurt their child, who had lived nearly two years "by the grace of God."

"On my mother, she did not kill her baby and neither did Eric," Evans said to the AJC.

To read the original report from the AJC, click here.

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