The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals will uphold the capital murder conviction of George William Barton, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Wednesday afternoon in Montgomery.
Barton, a 37-year-old Auburn man, was convicted of the murder of his 5-year-old step-daughter, whose name is withheld because she was a minor. The trial was in Lee County Circuit Court in June 2017.
At the trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that Barton struck the child several times in the head and torso, resulting in a fractured skull and separated vertebrae.
The blows also led to abdominal injuries the forensic pathologist at the Lee County trial called "devastating."
The trial court gave Barton a life sentence without parole, with the Court of Criminal Appeals affirming the conviction Friday, May 25. Marshall credited Assistant Attorney General Tracy Daniel for her successful work on the case.
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