{"id":375062,"date":"2026-07-16T04:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/375062\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:42:16","slug":"houston-county-jury-begins-deliberations-in-trial-of-kianna-davis-over-death-of-2-year-old-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/375062\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston County jury begins deliberations in trial of Kianna Davis over death of 2-year-old son"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Houston County jury is deliberating the case of Kianna Davis, accused of killing her 2-year-old son, Karter Ambrose. Closing arguments concluded Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. \u2014 A Houston County jury is now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13wmaz.com\/article\/news\/local\/warner-robins\/watch-live-murder-trial-georgia-teacher-kianna-davis-continues-sons-death-houston-county\/93-5b0a0eeb-35ba-4519-bd16-e2a73cfe28aa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">deliberating the fate of Kianna Davis<\/a>, a former Georgia teacher accused of killing her two-year-old son, Karter Ambrose. Davis took the stand Thursday and said she did nothing wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Closing arguments wrapped up a little after 3 p.m., and the judge sent the case to the jury around 3:45 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>                                            &#13;<br \/>\n                                                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.13wmaz.com\/assets\/shared-images\/icons\/arrow-circle-down.svg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                                            &#13;<br \/>\n                                                This story continues below.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Davis \u2014 who was a teacher at Seckinger High School in metro-Atlanta \u2014 is facing seven charges, including malice murder, felony murder, cruelty to children, and aggravated assault.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors argue she caused the child\u2019s death, pointing to injuries they say were not accidental. They also say she did not take the child to the doctor when he complained of stomach pain.<\/p>\n<p>However, on the stand Thursday, Davis maintained her innocence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a21ff9be-0a11-45f1-b338-23ad5df0cbe3_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>She said she does not know what happened to her son and she did not see any bruises or serious injuries. Davis also said her ex-boyfriend, who was also around the child, did not hurt him.<\/p>\n<p>There was a tense moment in the courtroom when Assistant District Attorney Justin Duane pressed Davis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou say Kiyon would never do anything like that,\u201d Duane said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is correct,\u201d Davis replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you deny having done anything,\u201d Duane said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is correct,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo who would have done it if the only two people were he and you,\u201d Duane asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is a good question,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we just don\u2019t know?\u201d Duane said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t,\u201d Davis answered.<\/p>\n<p>Kiyon Benton, Davis\u2019s ex-boyfriend, also faces charges and will be tried separately.<\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2959b672-8f28-4bb3-af6c-a70f3d1dee74_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The judge said since a verdict was not reached Wednesday, the deliberations will pick back up again on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nMORE ON THE CASE                    <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nCase timeline                    <\/p>\n<p>Nov. 17, 2020: Karter Ambrose was taken to a pediatrician&#8217;s office, where he died after staff&#8217;s attempt to perform CPR. His autopsy would determine Ambrose died from blunt force injuries, including a lacerated liver.\u00a0Oct. 17, 2023: Kianna Davis and her then-boyfriend, Kiyon Benton, were officially indicted in the death of Ambrose.\u00a0Nov. 3, 2023: Davis <a href=\"http:\/\/www.13wmaz.com\/article\/news\/local\/warner-robins-arrested-murder-charges-beating-2-year-old\/93-ff262b6f-dfce-46ea-89f7-5bf3e627f6cc#%253A~%253Atext=Houston%2520County%2520DA%253A%2520Woman%2520accused,charged%2520with%2520first-degree%2520murder.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">was arrested by the Warner Robins Police Department<\/a> after her indictment.\u00a0Nov. 9, 2023: Davis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13wmaz.com\/article\/news\/local\/georgia-teacher-accused-of-murdering-two-year-old-has-bond-set\/93-d27f991e-7d8e-48a0-93ae-a4a3c63929ef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">was granted bond<\/a>, totaling $15,000, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.13wmaz.com\/article\/news\/local\/mother-gets-bond-in-2-year-olds-death-kianna-davis-kiyon-devoy-benton-karter-ambrose-houston-county-atlanta-teacher\/93-2dfa9771-a680-4c89-8526-7e9276dd5478\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">\u00a0ordered to remain on house arrest<\/a> until court.\u00a0May 1, 2024:\u00a0An arraignment took place where Davis officially heard the charges against her.July 13, 2026: \u00a0The trial began on Monday with jury selection and opening arguments.\u00a0                    <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nTRIAL TIMELINE:                    <\/p>\n<p>Monday: A jury was empaneled on the first day of jury selection, moving straight into opening arguments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There, prosecutor Justin Duane and defense attorney Jeffrey Grube outlined what they expected the evidence to show.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutors argued that the evidence will show Davis caused the death of Ambrose.<\/p>\n<p>But the defense pushed back, saying the evidence doesn&#8217;t show Davis \u00a0\u2014 or anyone else \u00a0\u2014 caused Ambrose&#8217;s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The defense and prosecution wrapped up opening arguments and moved into witness testimony.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday:\u00a0Testimony continued in the trial on Tuesday, where prosecutors showed jurors the video of Warner Robins Police officers speaking with Davis after Ambrose&#8217;s&#8217; death.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The officer, Matthew Wojtal, outlined what he saw when responding to the call.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday:\u00a0The defense continued to outline evidence against Davis, including playing excerpts from her interrogation with Warner Robins Police Detectives.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutors then rested their case, handing the floor over to the defense to outline their case.<\/p>\n<p>The only witness brought by defense attorney Jeffrey Grube was Kianna Davis herself. For over an hour, she spoke on the death of her son and her background, taking questions from her attorney before being cross examined by prosecutor Justin Duane.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution and defense then rested and headed to closing arguments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There, they painted two different visions of what happened.<\/p>\n<p>The case was then handed over to the jury to begin deliberation, weighing the evidence and determining whether or not Davis is guilty or not guilty.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Houston County jury is deliberating the case of Kianna Davis, accused of killing her 2-year-old son, Karter&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-375062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}