PERRY, Ga. (Court TV) — A Georgia teacher is facing a potential life sentence as she stands trial on charges she killed her young son.
Kianna Davis, 35, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including malice murder, felony murder, second-degree murder, cruelty to children and aggravated assault in the death of her son, 2-year-old Carter Ambrose.
Kianna Davis sits in court on the first day of her trial. (Court TV)
Carter was rushed into his pediatrician’s office on Nov. 17, 2020, wearing a diaper and T-shirt. Prosecutor Justin Duane said the child’s pulse was disappearing, that he was cold to the touch and that his eyes were rolled back in his head as doctors frantically attempted CPR and called 911. The child was pronounced dead after he was taken to a nearby hospital.
The 2-year-old had a documented history of medical issues, including asthma. Davis’ attorney described him as a “sickly child” in his opening statement to the jury. “At first glance, this looked like a child that had succumbed to this breathing issue,” Duane said. “Until the autopsy was performed.”
Duane said that a medical examiner determined that Carter’s cause of death was blunt force injury to his abdomen that caused a lacerated liver. “This is a homicide, no doubt about it,” Duane said, telling the jury that the child had injuries to his torso, his genitalia and his head.
Investigators said that at the time of his death, Carter was in the custody of his mother and her boyfriend, who has also been charged in the case and has pleaded not guilty. “During this trial, you will have the urge, I suspect, to try to pick who did it,” Duane said in his opening statement to the jury. “Which one beat him? Did they both beat him? I’m sorry to tell you that I do not have the answer to every question that you are going to have in this trial. But the testimony you are going to hear is that the beating or beatings this child sustained were only when the defendant or the defendant and her boyfriend or the boyfriend had custody. Sole access to this child. They are parties to each other’s crimes.”
In a series of statements to police and others, Davis allegedly offered a number of explanations for her son’s injuries, including saying that he jumped off a couch and a bed, that he suffered from diabetes and that he was hurt while riding his bike. Davis’ attorney, Jeffrey Grube, urged the jury to remember that the prosecution bears the burden of proving its case and that his client need not offer any explanation of what happened. “She doesn’t have to. It’s not her burden,” he said. “She doesn’t have to prove to you that her only child died because he fell off a bed or bumped into a table or on the handlebars of his little bicycle.”
At the time of her son’s death, Davis was working as a teacher in the Houston County School District through a program at Central Georgia Technical College. Grube said that on the dates when Carter was allegedly hurt, his client was teaching.
DAILY TRIAL HIGHLIGHTS
DAY 2 – 7/14/26
DAY 1 – 7/13/26
- LIVESTREAM: GA v. Kianna Davis – Day 1 | Teacher & Toddler Murder Trial
- The prosecution and defense delivered opening statements.
- Taylor Sledge Ragsdale, Primary Pediatrics
- Worked as a receptionist at the pediatrician’s office and saw a man bring a young child into the office. The child was limp in his arms and the man said he needed help.
- The child was lifeless and not moving.
- The man did not seem overly concerned.
- Emily Baker, Primary Pediatrics
- Worked at Primary Pediatrics when Carter was brought in; she got a call for a lifeless child and went out and brought the child back into a room.
- The child was lifeless and his feet were white; his eyes were rolled to the back of his head.
- The man with him said the child had been vomiting the night before, and he gave him a breathing treatment; it seemed like the child had a seizure before he brought him in.
- Amanda Gattie, Primary Pediatrics, pediatric nurse practitioner
- Ran to get the doctor after someone said the child was unresponsive.
- Started talking to the man who identified himself as the child’s stepfather, who said the child had breathing problems overnight.
- Megan Kelly, Primary Pediatrics
- Worked at the pediatrician’s office when Carter was brought in.
- Interacted with the man who brought him in, and believed he was on the phone with the child’s mother at the time.
- The man said that the child had been vomiting and had diarrhea and was lethargic.
- Lisa James, registered nurse
- The unresponsive child was brought in.
- The child was not breathing and had no pulse.
- The child was cold to the touch and was covered head to toe in water.
- The child was deceased.
