The Arkansas Court of Appeals has denied the state’s petition for a rehearing in the child abuse case of Jonathan Snow. The ruling was made public Wednesday.Snow had been charged with inflicting serious injuries on his then 3-week-old son, Alyas.
In December, the appeals court, in a 4-2 decision, threw out Snow’s conviction on a first-degree battery charge, but allowed the conviction on endangering the welfare of a minor to stand. In the rehearing petition, the state had asked the court to reconsider that decision and to allow the more serious battery conviction to stand as well.
During his trial in October 2017, a Baxter County Circuit Court jury found Snow guilty on the battery and endangering the welfare of a minor charges. The jury recommended a 35-year prison sentence on the battery charge and six years on the endangering the welfare of a minor charge.
The jury also recommended, and the circuit court accepted, that the sentences would run consecutively, meaning Snow was facing a total of 41 years in prison.
In filing the original appeal of the circuit court jury’s decision, Snow’s lawyer, Gary Potts of Monticello, contended his client’s conviction rested solely on an inadequate amount of circumstantial evidence, forcing the jury to rely on speculation and conjecture to conclude Snow committed the crimes. He also wrote the state failed to present any evidence during the trial which would have excluded the reasonable hypothesis the mother of the child, Alyssia Kirby-Snow, was actually the single guilty party.
The petition for rehearing was filed in the court of appeals by the State Attorney General’s Office. The state contended enough evidence had been presented during the trial to allow the jury to reach the decisions it did without guessing.
In early February last year, a Baxter County Circuit Court jury found Kirby-Snow not guilty of first-degree battery and guilty of permitting child abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor and sentenced her to 26 years in prison and assessed a fine of $13,000.
The state also contended the judges on the appeals court used reasoning to arrive at their initial decision to throw out the battery charge which departed from the accepted standards for review of challenges to the sufficient of evidence in a case.
The appeals court issued letter orders, meaning letters will be sent to all of the parties informing them of the rehearing denial. The orders were to be prepared Wednesday, according to an attorney on the appeals court clerk’s staff.
The state’s Attorney General has also filed a petition for review with the Arkansas Supreme Court and that remains active.
The charges against the couple resulted from an investigation launched in late February 2016 when the Mountain Home Police Department received a report from Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock that it was believed the couple’s baby son, Alyas Snow had suffered serious abuse.
Doctors testified during Jonathan Snow’s trial the baby will have lifetime handicaps due to the injuries he received.
In the opinion of the medical team which examined the infant, there was no scenario in which a single drop or fall would result in Alyas Snow’s widespread injuries.
Jonathan Snow and Alyssia Kirby-Snow told investigators they were the only ones responsible for the care of the infant. At the time of the boy’s birth, the couple lived together in an apartment complex along State Highway 201 North. They were not married until early October 2016. At the time, Jonathan Snow was 19-years-old and Alyssia Kirby-Snow was 30-years-old.
In its initial ruling, the appeals court mentioned lengthy videos Jonathan Snow took using his cellphone in an apparent attempt to document health problems his infant son was experiencing. In the appeals court’s initial ruling throwing out the battery charge, it was noted the videos were “odd” but Judge Brandon J. Harrison writing for the majority said, “we cannot agree they are necessarily proof of guilt. The argument could just as easily be made that the fact he made the videos is proof of his innocence and shows the concern and uncertainty of a young father.”
Potts said in his filings with the appeals court no solid evidence was presented by the state during Jonathan Snow’s trial to show which parent actually caused the injuries to the baby.
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