Jurors will hear testimony in coming days in the death penalty trial of a West Melbourne mother charged with causing a series of gruesome injuries to her 3-year-old son before claiming he drowned in an apartment bathtub.
Prosecutors began opening arguments Aug. 26 in the case against Erica Dotson, charged with the first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse in connection with the July 2021 death of Jameson Nance.
Jameson Nance loved cars, trucks and planes
The trial is expected to last into next week. If Dotson if convicted, the jury will be asked to make a recommendation for life in prison or the death penalty.
Jameson’s death occurred at a Lago Circle apartment in West Melbourne on June 11, 2021. Dotson and her boyfriend told detectives that the boy drowned in the bathtub. The medical examiner determined that the child had been subjected to three weeks of intense abuse leading up to his death.
Autopsy findings show that the boy had a right rib fracture, a stab wound to the scalp, a lacerated jaw and a broken tooth. He also had a history of injuries that included broken legs, with claims from Dotson that he tripped and fell off a curb, records show.
Dotson’s boyfriend at the time, Joshua Manns, was also arrested on the same charges in connection with Jameson’s death. His trial has not been scheduled.
The trial is being held before Circuit Judge Steve Henderson at the Moore Justice Center.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Or X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Testimony underway at West Melbourne mother’s death penalty trial