Prosecutors in Florida are seeking the death penalty for a woman accused of ordering her family’s 100-pound rottweiler to attack her boyfriend’s 9-year-old daughter before fatally beating her.
Tyshael Elise Martin, 35, has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and aggravated child abuse in the June killing of Jamaria Sessions in Montverde, some 25 miles west of Orlando. Investigators got videos from inside the girl’s house of the violent thrashing, which was reportedly caused by Martin. An examination revealed that Jamaria died from blunt force injuries to the head, body, and extremities, as well as a heat injury to the right foot. The medical examiner declared the death murder.
State attorneys in Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit filed a motion saying that they intend to pursue the death penalty. Prosecutors in Florida must establish beyond a reasonable doubt at least one of a list of aggravating conditions before imposing the death penalty for murder…