Facts of the Crime:
Kirksey was sentenced to death on April 30, 2010 by Etowah County Circuit Judge David Kimberley for the 2006 murder of Cornell Norwood, his girlfriend’s 23-month-old son.
Ronnie Lynn Kirksey had been convicted in February 2010, and a jury had unanimously recommended a death sentence. Kimberley said the extenuating circumstances approved by the jury showed the crime was especially “heinous, atrocious or cruel.” He said the death penalty recommendation overrode any mitigating circumstances presented by the defense, such as the defendant’s lack of criminal record and comments by family members. Kirksey declined to comment when asked by Kimberley if he had anything to say.
Jurors deliberated less than two hours before returning the death sentence recommendation. The same jurors earlier had convicted Kirksey of capital murder in the child’s death, after deliberating for about two hours following a two-week trial.
Cornell had a skull fracture that caused his death but had several more injuries that would have killed him had he not died from the head injury first, a forensic pathologist testified in the trial. The child had traumatic injuries to his stomach, heart, lungs and diaphragm, and the aorta — the main artery through his body — was torn, according to testimony. Kirksey gave statements soon after Cornell’s death, explaining how he kicked and stomped the child. During testimony during the trial, Kirksey said he fell on the child and that, along with the damage from CPR, caused the injuries.
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