A former beauty pageant queen from Georgia has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her boyfriend’s 18-month-old child.
Trinity Poague, 20, was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated battery, and child cruelty by a jury on Friday, December 5.
Judge W. James Sizemore Jr. handed Poague a life sentence and added another 20 years to be served concurrently.
- Trinity Poague, former Georgia beauty queen, was sentenced to life in prison for killing her ex-boyfriend’s 18-month-old child.
- Poague was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated battery, and child cruelty by a jury on December 5.
- The toddler, Romeo ‘Jaxton Dru’ Angeles, died from blunt force trauma to the head and torso inflicted by Poague in 2024.
Trinity Poague killed Romeo ‘Jaxton Dru’ Angeles in 2024
Image credits: Court TV
Her attorney had asked the court to consider not imposing a consecutive 20-year sentence for child cruelty, and for it to be run concurrently, so Poague could have a chance at parole.
“I don’t do a lot of speaking when I am passing the sentence. I have heard the case, and I’ve considered the tragedy,” Judge Sizemore Jr. said, as per Court TV. “And there’s a lot of tragedy to go around here.”
“The bottom line is you’re going to receive a sentence of life in prison, which is the appropriate sentence for the conduct which you have been convicted of.”
He added, “I hope this can bring some closure to the family. It is just a complete tragedy.”
Image credits: Sumter County Sheriff’s Office
Addressing Poague directly, he said, “I hope that you can, in your older days, have some sort of life after serving this sentence and life while you’re in prison.
“You’ll just have to make the best of it.”
Footage broadcast earlier on Court TV showed Poague becoming emotional as the verdict was read aloud.
She visibly broke down as the judge told her she had been found not guilty of malice murder, but appeared somber when she was found guilty of the other charges against her.
Poague was found guilty by a jury of killing her ex-boyfriend’s toddler, Romeo ‘Jaxton Dru’ Angeles, at Georgia Southwestern State University in January 2024.
Image credits: GoFundMe
Julian Williams had left his son with Poague, then 18, in his dorm room to go and collect pizza.
An earlier indictment reported by WALB said Poague caused Romeo’s death by “inflicting blunt force trauma to the head and torso of his body.”
According to The New York Post, Williams received a text saying his son was not breathing and rushed back to his dorm, driving Romeo to the hospital.
When he arrived at Phoebe Sumter Hospital in Americus, staff performed life-saving measures, but the child sadly could not be saved and was pronounced dead.
Poague was arrested and charged in connection with the death one week later.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that she was jealous of Romeo and resented him because she wanted to have her own children with Williams.
Romeo was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved
Image credits: Facebook
Footage broadcast on Court TV on Tuesday showed prosecutor Lewis Lamb telling jurors, “She wanted to have a child or children with Julian Williams, but not that child.”
Prosecutors also alleged that Poague had googled the questions, “How do you get a brain bleed?” and “How can a depressed skull fracture go unnoticed?” while at the hospital.
Poague initially told investigators that the toddler had been eating chips shortly before becoming unresponsive, but a medical examiner later concluded the child had not eaten at all.
The autopsy revealed catastrophic blunt-force injuries to the head and torso, with damage so extensive that his brain was described as no longer functioning, The New York Post reported.
Emergency room physician Dr. Michael Busman testified that Poague’s explanation did not match the severity of the injuries, noting that swelling of the head and fluid coming from the child’s nose were consistent with a forceful direct impact.
In 2023, Poague won the Miss Donalsonville title and later competed in the National Peanut Festival pageant, where she did not place.
Following her arrest, she was stripped of her pageant titles.
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