Anthony Trakemon Powell, 24, angry with his two young kids because they were not potty trained properly, has been accused of capital murder for apparently beating one of them until he died from severe head injuries, according to USA Today.
Powell, of Texas, could face the death penalty for murdering his 3-year-old son, Tristan. The prosecuting attorney also intends to accuse Powell of injuring his other 2-year-old son by thrashing him and then scalding him with hot water.
Powell allegedly assaulted his son over and over again using his hand and a green belt at his Houston residence over the boy's potty training progress. The incident took place last week, when Powell beat the infant until he fell to the ground, according to Porsha Nicole Land, the sister of the accused and a witness to the alleged crime, reported The Daily Mail.
"I'm tired of beating their ass and them not learning," he allegedly told Land, she revealed in a statement to the detectives.
After the assault, the boy said he was feeling sleepy, according to court documents. When Powell woke up the next morning, he found that Tristan was having difficulty breathing. The infant was immediately rushed to the Texas Children's Hospital where doctors found that he had suffered severe swelling of the brain and multiple skull fractures. He was pronounced dead the following day.
At the hospital an officer took notice that Tristan's younger brother, who was wrapped in a blanket, was also seriously injured.
Powell and the child's mother were living separately and she had custody of the children. The accused allegedly picked up his two sons from their mother's house in Jasper, Texas, and brought them to stay with him at his sister's house in Houston. Land, 23, who witnessed the allegedly assault but allegedly did nothing to stop it, has also been charged with injury to a child by omission.
