A 36-year-old mother from Ohio has been found guilty of killing her 11-year-old son in a Mississippi hotel bathroom three years ago. The woman, Latina Marie Oates, claimed she believed her son was a demon at the time of the horrific incident.
The jury in Jones County, Mississippi, reached a guilty verdict on one count of capital murder in the death of young Joshua Oates. Following the verdict, Circuit Court Judge Dal Williamson sentenced Oates to life in a state correctional facility with no possibility of parole. The jury rejected the options of finding her not guilty by reason of insanity and not guilty but still presenting a danger to society.
Throughout the trial, Oates' defense attorneys argued that she was experiencing a psychotic break when she committed the brutal act. A forensic psychologist testified that she did not comprehend that her actions were wrong at the time.
According to the testimony, Oates believed her son had turned into a demon. She attacked him with what she thought was an "ancient dagger," which was, in reality, a metal pipe she had brought from Ohio.
Oates claimed to have filled the hotel room's bathtub with water, added a piece of toilet paper to convert it into "holy water," and then tried to kill her son, initially aiming for his heart. When he woke up, she moved him to the bathroom, where she ultimately killed him.
The attack was brutal, resulting in over 60 wounds, and Oates' other sons heard Joshua pleading with their mother during the horrifying incident.
Oates was arrested in March 2020 after taking her three children from their Ohio home and driving to Mississippi without informing her husband of their whereabouts. She was eventually spotted on surveillance footage in Laurel, Mississippi, with her two younger children. Authorities discovered Joshua's body in their hotel room, leading to Oates' arrest in New Orleans.
During the trial, Oates' husband testified that his wife had taken their surviving children to New Orleans due to her belief in Marie Laveau, a famous practitioner of voodoo in the 1800s who lived in the city.
Meanwhile in Las Vegas, a man has been charged by the police with the murder of the famous rapper Tupac Shakur, a crime that took place almost three decades ago. See detailed story here
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