GAINESVILLE, Ga. (Court TV) — A Georgia judge is weighing whether to dismiss charges against a woman accused of killing a 4-year-old girl after prosecutors admitted they don’t know exactly how the child died.
Jessica Motes sits in court during a hearing on Aug. 7, 2026. (Court TV)
Jessica Motes, 37, has pleaded not guilty to felony murder, malice murder, aggravated battery and concealing a death after Autumn Fox, 4, was found dead inside a car parked at Sam’s Club and registered in the defendant’s name.
In their indictment, prosecutors said that Autumn died from blunt force trauma “by means unknown” and exposure to drugs including fentanyl, methamphetamine and xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer.
Motes’ attorney, Melinda Ryals, argued at a hearing on Friday that the indictment should be dismissed because it fails to identify exactly how the child was killed or how Motes allegedly contributed to her death. “Examples of more descriptive use of force and their causation of death include: the person suffered blunt force trauma to her colon, when the Defendant by means of his fists hit the victim in their torso, with such force, causing the colon to rupture and said rupture causing the death of the victim; the person suffered a blow to the head by means of a baseball bat, when the Defendant struck the victim with said object, causing the brain to swell, causing the death of the victim; the victim suffered a blow to the head by means of a hammer, when the Defendant struck the victim with said object, causing the brain to bleed, causing the death of the victim.”
Similarly, Ryals said that merely saying the child was exposed to drugs didn’t give Motes enough information to mount a proper defense. “Did this defendant leave these drugs lying about the house to where the child could accidentally ingest the drugs? Did she herself inject the child with the drugs? There’s so many ways with that are just, you can’t be prepared to defend every single way with the word exposure,” Ryals said.
Prosecutor Harold Buckler said the indictment lacks specificity because the information simply doesn’t exist. “If the state believed that this child died of a brain hemorrhage, we would have alleged that,” he said. “I anticipate, Your Honor, that when our medical examiner takes the stand, she’s going to testify that the child died as a result of, in her words, blunt force trauma and exposure to these drugs.”
Buckler conceded that the indictment was unusual because of its vague wording. “I guess I kind of struggle over this week trying to figure out that it just entirely seems entirely wholly and totally unfair to Ms. Motes, especially given the fact we’re trying to execute her as a result of what she’s done,” Buckler said. But, he said, the prosecution is limited by the indictment just as much as the defendant. “At trial, Judge, we have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this is unknown.”
Ryals’ motion also noted that prosecutors failed to include the word “unlawfully” in the indictment when they wrote that Motes “did with malice aforethought cause the death of Autumn Fox.” That omission, Ryals argued, should void the indictment.
Judge Lindsay Burton said she would take the issue under advisement. Motes is due back in court on Sept. 4, when her defense will argue a challenge to the grand jury.
