Sophia Williams Tregoney Drive child beat to death sentencing

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Sophia Williams (DeKalb County Sheriff's Office)

DECATUR, Ga. - A DeKalb County mother will spend the rest of her life behind bars in the beating death of her preschool-age child in what prosecutors say was punishment during potty training.

What we know:

Sophia Williams, 43, was found guilty by a DeKalb County jury on charges of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, four counts of first-degree cruelty to children and three counts of aggravated battery on Aug. 27.

Williams appeared before DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Asha F. Jackson for a sentencing hearing on Tuesday. She received life without the possibility of parole plus 10 years.

The backstory:

According to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, the 4-year-old boy was found by responding officers on the floor of the living room inside the family’s Tregoney Drive apartment on the morning of March 6, 2022. Medics attempted to revive the child, who had no heartbeat. Officials also noted new and old bruises across the child’s body. He was rushed to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where he was pronounced dead.

Williams told officers her child was not potty-trained and that she had disciplined him by spanking him with her hand, a house slipper, a purse strap and a charging cord when he did not listen or relieved himself outside the toilet. She also said the boy had accidentally hit his head a week before the emergency call and that she was not responsible for it.

Why you should care:

A 13-year-old who was in the apartment told officers that the child’s mother "whooped" him the afternoon of March 5, 2022, when he would not use the bathroom. She said the preschooler appeared dizzy and fell on the floor unresponsive.

Prosecutors said Williams put the 4-year-old boy on the bed and threw water on him, reviving him for a moment before he passed out again. The child remained motionless overnight, only occasionally flinching with his arms jerking and legs kicking, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say Williams searched online using the phrases "remedy for concussion" and "Coma – symptoms and causes." She woke the next morning around 5 a.m. to the young child making low grunting sounds. His body was completely limp and he had stopped breathing. It was another 38 minutes before she called the boy’s father and told him he was not breathing. She eventually called 911 at 6:26 a.m. Williams told investigators she did not want to call for help because of the bruises.

The young boy’s autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt-force trauma to the head. The medical examiner’s report stated that had she sought immediate care as soon as he first passed out, there was a high chance he would have survived.