Gadsden couple to be tried this week in 2011 murder of 2 year old

Narshun Temar Smith                Brandy Nicole Lee

The mother of a 2-year-old Gadsden boy and her boyfriend are expected to come to trial this week on capital murder charges for his death. Trevaughn Lee Blount died Aug. 24, 2011, as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and other injuries. His mother, Brandy Nicole Lee, and her boyfriend, Narshun Temar Smith, were charged with capital murder just days after the toddler’s death. The boy was unconscious and not breathing when his mother took him to a Gadsden hospital emergency room. Physicians there suspected the child had suffered head trauma and notified police. After the child was stabilized, he was flown to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, where he later died. The two remained in jail until April. Both were released on $50,000 bond after the prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty against the pair. Under Alabama law, the murder of a child under 14 is a capital crime. Prosecutors have discretion in whether to seek the death penalty. Both are charged with the lesser offense of felony murder during aggravated child abuse as well. Trials for the two were consolidated and will be heard by Etowah County Circuit Judge David Kimberley.