Wayne County man’s life sentence upheld in beating death of girlfriend’s 3-year-old son

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The Supreme Court of Georgia has upheld the convictions of Trever Andre Foster, who is serving life in prison without parole for the 2012 death of 3-year-old Elisha Axson Jones in Wayne County.

He was 23 at the time of his arrest, and the mug shot we have of Foster is from 2012.

That 3-year-old was his girlfriend’s son, and died at the hospital from his injuries. You can find his obituary here.

Foster was convicted in 2013 of felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children after Elisha was found covered in 81 bruises, cuts, and abrasions, along with a fatal head injury.

Some of these injuries were older and in some stage of healing, but many were acute. Elisha also had swelling of his brain and bleeding inside his skull, which the medical examiner testified was consistent with the head hitting a wall or being struck with a blunt instrument, although it could also be consistent with a fall.

A medical examiner concluded the child died of “battered child syndrome,” saying the injuries were consistent with a prolonged and violent beating.

Prosecutors told jurors that Elisha had been uninjured earlier on May 2, 2012, but sustained his fatal injuries later that night while in Foster’s care. The child’s mother had left him with Foster while she went to work.

During the investigation, Foster gave police several conflicting accounts. He first said Elisha tripped over a dog. He later admitted from jail that he had beaten the child with a belt. At trial, he testified that the injuries came from what he described as “horse playing.”

On appeal, Foster challenged how sufficient the evidence in the case is and argued that the court denied his request for a continuance so that he could hire new counsel.

Foster also contends that the evidence does not satisfy the circumstantial-evidence statute. But the statute does not apply here, because there was direct evidence of Foster’s guilt: he admitted in 12 his interview from jail that “I beat that child.”

Opinions by GA Supreme Court

The state’s highest court rejected both claims. The justices found the evidence was strong enough to support the jury’s verdict, pointing to the medical findings and Foster’s own admissions.

With the decision, Foster’s convictions and life sentence without parole remain in place.

You can read that full document from the GA Supreme Court here.