HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (AP) -- A central Missouri man has been convicted in the abuse death of a 3-year-old boy that was reported as a fatal hit-and-run accident.
A Cass County jury on Wednesday found Thomas Presley guilty of first-degree murder and child abuse in the February 2012 death of his girlfriend's son, Blake Litton of Stover.
Presley told Morgan County authorities that the child was injured by a hit-and-run driver on Missouri 135 after he got out of the car to go to the bathroom. However, investigators determined the boy's injuries were not consistent with a car crash.
The pathologist said prompt medical care could have saved Blake Litton's life.
The child's mother, Jamie Litton, is scheduled to go on trial in August in Laclede County for first-degree murder.