In a unanimous decision Monday, the Supreme Court of Georgia (SCOGA) upheld the murder conviction of a Lawrenceville man sentenced to life in prison for killing his premature infant daughter.
Reuben Arthur Valrie was found guilty in 2017 on charges of felony murder, cruelty to children and aggravated battery in the death of his daughter Aliyana.
According to information from the trial, Valrie was home alone with Aliyana on Jan. 14, 2014 while Kendre Nix, the baby's mother, was at work and three other children were at school. When Nix returned home, she found Aliyana unresponsive and called 911. The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital. An autopsy showed the infant had died from head trauma and blunt force injury to her abdomen. She had nine broken ribs and about half her blood was hemorrhaged around her brain and in her abdomen.
Valrie offered conflicting reports about how the baby became injured, but he eventually admitted he had briefly shaken her. He claimed at trial Aliyanah had died of natural causes and she was injured when first responders handled her too roughly.
The jury found Valrie guilty and sentenced him to a life prison term.
In his appeal, Valrie claimed his attorney was ineffective; the high court disagreed.
"We conclude that the evidence presented at trial, when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Valrie was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted," Justice Keith R. Blackwell wrote in Monday's unanimous opinion.
Follow this link to read complete details issued in Monday's ruling by the Supreme Court of Georgia.
