Jury selection is set to begin Sept. 7 for a Star City woman accused of being involved in the death of her son in 2019.
Mary Black, 31, is charged with capital murder in the death of her 11-year-old son who was found inside a camper where Black and her husband were living with her two older children and the couple’s youngest child.
Police were called to the camper on June 16, 2019 where they found the boy not breathing. He was pronounced dead at the scene and officers and ambulance personnel reported seeing bruises covering his body.
The State Medical Examiner’s Office reported the boy died as the result of multiple blunt-force trauma and ruled the death a homicide.
Mary Black’s husband, David, was also charged with capital murder and has since entered a plea of guilty to first-degree murder, a Class Y felony. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Circuit Judge Alex Guynn will preside over the trial which is expected to last 4 days.
Prosecuting Attorney S. Kyle Hunter said the state has waived the death penalty and if Mary Black is convicted of capital murder, she would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
