Toles returned to Gadsden for retrial

Kevin Andre Toles

Kevin Andre Towles was back in an Etowah County courtroom Thursday for a hearing in preparation for a second trial in the beating death of a 5-year-old Gadsden boy.  Towles was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die in 2009 for the 2006 slaying of Geontae Glass. His case was remanded back to Etowah County for a retrial last year.

The focus of Thursday’s status conference before Circuit Judge Allen Millican was the handling of issues that were raised and ruled on in the previous trial.

Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp said he and defense attorney Dani Bone met a short time after Bone was appointed to represent Towles in the retrial, as he did in the prior trial. Harp said at the time, they decided to start the trial from scratch.

Bone’s law firm began by filing some standard motions, such as a motion for discovery, as he did in the initial trial.

The case came back for a retrial because the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that jurors should not have heard testimony from Towles’ teenage son about Towles’ beating him for a conduct problem. The state contended in the first trial that Towles beat Glass because the child’s conduct grade dropped. The boy died from the resulting internal injuries.

The case has been set for trial in May, but Millican told attorneys the case will go to trial when both the state and defense are ready. He said he set the date for trial so that issues, such as those considered in Thursday’s hearing, could be addressed.