Three-year-old Tatiana Emerson died Aug. 27, 2014 from blunt force trauma. Her mother’s boyfriend, Rhasean Lowry, 34, has been charged with criminal homicide and is accused of beating her to death. After roughly four hours of deliberation Friday, a Chattanooga jury said a 37-year-old man was guilty of murder and aggravated child abuse in the 2014 death of 3-year-old Tatiana Emerson.
Rhasean Lowry received an automatic life sentence for the murder conviction and will return to Hamilton County Criminal Court Jan. 31 for sentencing on his child abuse charge.
His defense attorney, Dan Ripper, said there were no clear winners.
“Regardless of the jury’s verdict, you’ve lost a 3-year-old who will never come back,” Ripper said after the trial. “Whether the defendant wins this case or loses this case, nobody wins.”
Prosecutors began trying Lowry on Tuesday, saying video footage and medical testimony would disprove his story about what happened Aug. 26, 2014.