ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A woman who along with her mother beat her girlfriend’s son to death because he drank out of a milk jug was found guilty of first-degree murder on Friday.
Records from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office show that on July 7, 2017, Lakesha Lewis beat 3-year-old Xavier Mokarzel-Satchel with a plastic rod used to open and close blinds after he was caught drinking milk straight from the carton and eating yogurt.
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Callene Barton is accused of yelling at the boy and throwing him down a hallway, causing his neck to turn, according to the report.
Brandi Mokarzel, the boy’s mother, was initially sleeping but woke up when she heard Lewis, who was her girlfriend, beating her son.
The boy was found unconscious at the apartment on Silver Star Road and taken to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, where he died.
Investigators said they found evidence that Xavier had healing injuries, a sign that he’d been beaten in the past and Mokarzel told them Lewis had hit her son before the fatal incident.
Now that Lewis has been convicted, she could be sentenced to death.
Court records show her mother’s case has been closed. During a court hearing on Aug. 8, 2018, Barton was found incompetent to proceed on charges of child neglect and aggravated manslaughter.
Mokarzel pleaded guilty to child neglect causing great bodily harm and was sentenced to three years in prison with credit for time served.