POSEY COUNTY, IN -
A jury of seven women and five men have found 24-year-old Timothy Lear guilty on all charges in a Tri-State murder case. Lear was accused of killing his four-month-old son Bryson.
Lear was found guilty of murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and battery resulting in death.
During his closing argument, Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers pleaded with the jury to find Lear guilty of murder, and not Reckless Homicide saying, "He's guilty of murder, don't you let him off the hook."
Clowers told the jury Bryson's "body tells you what happened that night."
He was referring to the list of injuries a pathologist found to Bryson while conducting an autopsy, including: bleeding, swelling and bruising of the brain, a spiral fracture to his arm, a broken rib and bruises to his abdomen.
Clowers, at one point, put his fist up to an autopsy photo of Bryson's abdomen to indicate what he believes are bruises that coincide with a fist.
"Those injuries don't lie," Clowers told the jury. "He snapped," Clowers suggested.
During his closing argument, Lear's defense attorney William Gooden began by telling the jury, "No matter what happened here, this is a terrible tragedy."
He went on to tell the jury they should use their heads when making a decision. "If you use your heart, that's when you make mistakes," Gooden said.
The murder charge, as referenced by the formal charges, requires that the defendant "did knowingly or intentionally kill another human being". Mr. Gooden told the jury he did not think anyone, including the State, believed Lear intentionally killed his son. He spent time explaining to the jury the definition of "knowingly", as it applied to the murder charge.
The jury began deliberating around 2:00 p.m.
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24-year-old Timothy Lear is accused of killing his son, four-month-old Bryson Clardy
