Jury convicts Gulfport man in baby’s death. ‘This is a tragedy,’ prosecutor says
Jessica Smith quietly wept on a supporter’s shoulder when a jury Thursday night convicted her ex-boyfriend for causing the catastrophic brain injuries that led to their baby’s death.
The jury convicted Byron Eugene Ellison of capital murder in the October 2018 death of 2-month-old Colton “Colt” Wyatt Ellison.
Afterward, Judge Christopher Schmidt asked Ellison and his attorney, Jim Davis, if they wished to offer a comment prior to sentencing. Both declined.
The judge sentenced Ellison to life in prison without parole. The state did not seek a death sentence.
The jury had the option to convict Ellison on lesser charges, but elected to convict Ellison on the highest offense possible for the crime.
“I want to thank the members of the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department, the crime scene technicians, the medical personnel who all participated in this case,” Harrison County Assistant District Attorney Patricia “Patti” Simpson said. “This case is a tragedy but we could not have gotten justice without the participation of all the different agencies.”
Simpson and Assistant District Attorney Billy Stage prosecuted the case.
“When we prosecute such gut-wrenching and tragic case,” Simpson said, “parents can’t help but wonder if that would have been my baby, would somebody try to get justice for them. We are pleased that we were able to bring justice to his mom for the loss of her baby.”
Colton died days after paramedics found him unresponsive at the home Smith and Ellison shared on Calcutta Drive, south or Robinson Road in Gulfport. The three had moved in with Ellison’s parents after the baby spent about four or five weeks in a New Orleans hospital.
The baby had been born with a esophageal issues that required surgery and treatment early-on.
Smith testified that Ellison would often get frustrated at their baby when he was crying and refer to him as a “little s--t.”
Smith said she had gone into another room to make a bottle while Ellison and the baby stayed in another room. When she returned several minutes later, she said she found her child lifeless, unable to hold up his head or move his arms and he wasn’t crying.
She called 911 and performed CPR until paramedics arrived.
Four doctors examined the baby after hospitalization at two hospitals. The baby was on life support and had no brain activity when he arrived at a New Orleans hospital.
An autopsy showed the baby died of various brain bleeds, had hemorrhaging in his eyes and an abrasion to the back of the head.
Four doctors who examined the baby determined the injuries were consistent with blunt force injury to the head.
An autopsy listed the cause of of death blunt force injury by homicide.
Ellison provided several different accounts to authorities about what he could have done to the baby.
Initially, he said, Colton may have been hurt when his father was bouncing him on his knee.
In a second account, Ellison said Colton’s head may have hit his collar bone too hard when his father was pulling him to his chest.
In another account, Ellison suggested the baby may have fallen off a bed.
In each account he provided to law enforcement, Ellison never referred to his baby by name, instead mostly referring to the baby as “it.”
Ellison’s attorney, Jim Davis, argued Ellison had been falsely accused of a crime, and had a forensic pathologist testify that Colton likely died after something got caught in his esophagus and blocked the oxygen from getting the child’s brain.
That type of condition, the defense’s pathologist said, would result in brain bleeds because of the oxygen that is no longer getting to the brain.
As Harrison County sheriff’s deputies led Ellison out of court in handcuffs, his mother wept as she sat next to Ellison’s dad and a friend.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 8:51 PM.
