Case against parents accused of son's death goes to jury

<p>A Cobb County prosecutor closed her case Wednesday against a mother and father charged with murdering their 8-year-old son by singing "Happy Birthday" over a birthday cake the boy will never see.</p><p>As Joseph and Sonya Smith broke down in tears Wednesday, Senior Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Dixon reminded the Cobb County Superior Court jury that there should be more candles on the cake.</p><p>But she said Josef Smith was the victim of malice and felony murder committed by his parents.</p><p>Dixon cited testimony that items including a belt, coathanger, high-heeled shoes, an extension cord, glue stick and wooden paddle were used in what she said was a long period of abuse against the boy.</p><p>Defense attorney Manny Arora acknowledged to the jury that pictures of injuries were shocking but he asked the jury to "look past the surface."</p><p>Arora suggested that if excessive discipline led to the child's death, the parents should only face a lesser charge, not murder.</p><p>Arora also insisted the prosecution's expert witnesses could not agree on the cause of death and then asked the jury, "Why put the burden on you?"</p><p>The case was expected to go to jurors Wednesday afternoon.</p><p>Prosecutors allege Josef Smith was beaten by his parents, locked inside a wooden box and forced to stay in a closet for hours at a time before he died in October 2003.</p><p>The parents declined to testify in their own defense on Tuesday, after a judge strongly advised them not to.</p><p>The Mableton couple faces 14 charges that include murder, aggravated assault, cruelty to children and false imprisonment.</p><p>The Smiths are members of the Franklin, Tennessee-based Remnant Fellowship Church, which grew out of church leader Gwen Shamblin's Weigh Down Workshop, a Christian diet program she created in 1986. Authorities raided the church in June 2004 as part of the investigation of Josef Smith's death.</p>