MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Whitehaven man who reported that he found his girlfriend's 2-year-old son face down in a bathtub in an apparent drowning has been convicted of causing the boy's death from a beating.
Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said a jury found Marterrius Hite, 29, guilty of murder in the perpetration of aggravated child abuse, murder in the perpetration of aggravated child neglect, and on additional felony counts of aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect.
Hite was sentenced to life in prison on the murder convictions. A judge will sentence him on the other convictions on March 31.
According to trial testimony, Hite called first responders on July 13, 2015, to a Whitehaven apartment and reported he found Deandre Davis floating in an upstairs bathtub and not breathing. Davis was taken to LeBonheur, where he died a short time later.
Police and medical personnel noticed cuts and bruising on Davis' body, and Hite admitted that he had grabbed Davis by the neck and "popped him several times with a belt on his stomach and legs" before he found him in the bathtub.
A belt Hite was wearing had a pattern of studs on it that matched multiple injuries of Davis' back and legs.
The medical examiner later found head trauma, brain hemorrhaging, numerous internal injuries in the abdomen, and scars and wounds in various stages of healing on Davis' torso, legs and right arm.
A doctor for the defense told the jury Davis died from cancer.
The jury returned its verdict on Friday night. Weirich said the case took years to bring to trial primarily because of extensive medical reports gathered and shared by both sides, and then additional delays were brought on by COVID restrictions that have limited trials in the past two years.
