Man convicted in death of Gadsden boy to get new trial

Kevin Andre Towles

A man sentenced to die for the beating death of a child in Etowah County is going to get a new trial.

The Alabama Supreme Court  ruled 7-0 friday that the capital murder conviction and death sentence of Kevin Andre Towles should be overturned because of improper testimony at his 2009 trial.

State prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to review the case after the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reached the same conclusion last year.

Towles was convicted of the December 2006 beating death of 5-year-old Geontae Glass. Prosecutors said he beat the boy with a piece of wood because the child's school conduct grade dropped, and internal injuries led to Geontae's death. The jury recommended a death sentence, and Circuit Judge Allen Millican imposed it.

During the trial, Towles' 15-year-old son testified that three years before Geontae's beating, his father hit him in the mouth and struck him with an electric fan over conduct problems. The injuries resulted in the state Department of Human Resources removing the child from the home.

The Supreme Court said the older boy's testimony prejudiced Towles' case.