Jonathan Snow, who was given 41 years in prison by a Baxter County Circuit Court jury in October last year for inflicting serious injuries on his then three-week-old infant son, has filed an appeal of his conviction.The case is being considered by the Arkansas Court of Appeals.Snow alleges the trial court in Baxter County erred in denying two motions for a directed verdict of not guilty made during his trial, contending his conviction rested solely on an inadequate amount of circumstantial evidence.
Motions for directed verdicts are standard procedure and are made at the close of the evidence presentation by the prosecution, and after all of the evidence from both sides has been presented. The motions in Jonathan Snow’s trial contend the evidence presented in the trial was insufficient to prove his guilt.
In the appeal, Snow’s lawyer, Gary Potts of Monticello, writes there were no witnesses to any alleged criminal acts on the part of his client, and none of the state’s witnesses could testify as to who actually caused the extensive injuries to the infant, Alyas Snow.
Jonathan Snow’s attorney contends if fault is attributed to the parents of the child, it is more likely the mother, Alyssia Kirby-Snow, who is the wrongdoer.
He writes Alyssia Kirby-Snow lost custody of one of her five children due to drug problems.
In early February, a Baxter County Circuit Court jury found Alyssia Kirby-Snow not guilty of first-degree battery and guilty of permitting child abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison and fined $13,000. She has indicated she will appeal her conviction.
The circuit court reporter has recently been granted until July 24th to complete and submit the record of Alyssia Kirby-Snow’s trial.
According to language in Jonathan Snow’s appeal, since the state’s case against him was built on circumstantial evidence, the jury was put in a position of relying on “speculation and conjecture.” It is further alleged the evidence must be considered insufficient and, therefore, the judgment should be set aside.
The charges against 20-year-old Jonathan Snow and his wife 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 Alyas Snow had suffered serious abuse.
The hospital reported the infant had lost two pounds since his birth in late January 2016, suffered a fracture to the right clavicle, sustained numerous bruises as well as bleeding and swelling of the brain, and the infant was suffering seizures.
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 and serious injuries. According to investigative reports, the parents provided nothing but guesses as to how the infant sustained the injuries, but the medical team suspected abuse.
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 infant’s birth, Jonathan Snow and Alyssia Kirby-Snow were living together in an apartment complex along State Highway 201 North. They were married in early October 2016. At the time of the marriage, Alyssia Kirby-Snow was 30 years old and Jonathan Snow was 19 years old.
During Jonathan Snow’s trial, his defense attorney, Andrew Bailey, also pointed the finger at Alyssia Kirby-Snow — calling her the “better candidate” in terms of being responsible for the injuries to the couple’s infant son.
Bailey told the jury his client was a teenager at the time the incident happened and did not know what to do when his infant son began exhibiting signs of seizures and other medical problems. Bailey said Jonathan Snow “was doing what he knew to do, and he did a bad job in terms of caring for his son, but this does not make him a criminal.”
According to testimony presented during Jonathan Snow’s trial, the injuries suffered by Alyas Snow, including brain damage, rendered him unable to talk and walk. He can only briefly hold his head up, and he is fed through a tube. The boy will live with the handicaps the rest of his life.
One of the most dramatic moments in Jonathan Snow’s trial came when Alyas Snow was brought into the courtroom by his foster mother for jurors to see the results of injuries the boy sustained and the handicaps he will live with for the remainder of his life.
There were two motions for a directed verdict before the case went to the jury, and Judge John Putman denied both. The judge said while the case for battery was a close call, he believed enough evidence — circumstantial or not — had been introduced to get past the request for the directed verdict and to allow the case to go to the jury.
The attorney general’s office prepared the briefs on behalf of the state asking the Court of Appeals to deny Jonathan Snow’s request to have the judgment and sentence handed down in Baxter County Circuit Court set aside.
An assistant attorney general wrote Alyas Snow “during his short three weeks of life, while he was in the sole custody and care of Jonathan Snow and Alyssia Kirby-Snow, sustained life threatening injuries that left him hospitalized on the brink of death.”
According to the brief filed by the Attorney General’s office, the jury hearing Jonathan Snow’s case “could reasonably infer Snow caused the injuries to his son given the fact the parents were the sole care givers and given the improbable explanations given to investigators for the bruising and other injuries, and the fact that Jonathan Snow avoided getting medical attention for the infant who plainly was injured and in distress.”
Jonathan Snow is currently an inmate at the Delta Regional Unit of the state prison system at Dermott, and Alyssia Kirby-Snow is now serving her time in the Wrightsville Women’s Facility at Wrightsville.
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