D.C woman sentenced 45 years in prison for beating 3-year old son.
Xavier Lyles was only 3- years old when his mother, Francis Lyles, brutally beat him to death. Medical experts determined the boy had more than 70 injuries on his little body. Some say he had them way before his death, even years. A jury found the mother guilty of first-degree murder, child neglect, and other charges. They had the family neighbors and medical experts testify during the trial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Wright mentioned that the beatings ended when Lyles grew angry with her son the night of June 23, 2014, and beat him before he went to bed. The next morning, she discovered his body. But before calling paramedics, Wright said, Lyles asked a cousin to come to the house.
“It’s heartbreaking to think of that little boy’s last hours,” Judge Zoe Bush said. “He was abandoned and abused. He deserved a better life than he got. But in death, he will have justice.”
She told authorities that she never struck her son and that her boyfriend had been alone with the boy and had beaten him. Lyles’s family members were outraged and wanted to help secure the arrest of Francis’s boyfriend. One of Francis’s cousins told police she had recorded conversations on her cellphone with a recording app and gave prosecutors permission to access them. However, a neighbor testified that she once found Xavier wandering outside in the cold without a coat or shoes, and that when she returned the boy to his mother, she overheard Lyles beating him.
Lyles still faces additional charges in the case. Prosecutors say she tried to tamper with witnesses who were scheduled to testify during her trial. A hearing for that charge, should prosecutors decide to move forward with the case, is scheduled for March.
This is a terrible thing that happened, Xavier did not ask for any of that. It sucks that he didn’t get to see his future at all because his mother was angry with him. You never know when a child is being abused unless you really investigate the child. Neighbors claim they saw him outside without a coat or shoes and after that happened they heard him being beat, in that situation you should call the police because you never know how hard he is being hit. There are too many incidents that happen, just like this, to innocent children, which really need to be taken into consideration. I pray for his mother to overcome her illness and everyone else who was affected by his death. Anyone who seems skeptical of child abuse should be checked out before something like this happens.