Judge declares mistrial in Florida mother’s murder trial
A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the case of a Brevard County mother accused of killing her 3-year-old son after ruling that prosecutors failed to turn over key evidence to the defense. Erica Dotson had been on trial for two weeks when the judge halted proceedings, saying the State Attorney’s Office willfully withheld an interview with Dotson’s boyfriend, Joshua Manns, who is also charged in the case.
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A mistrial has been declared by a judge on Tuesday in the case of Erica Dotson, the Florida mother accused of murdering her 3-year-old son. The mistrial was declared after the judge said prosecutors withheld key evidence and testimony from the defense.
Latest updates in the case
What we know:
Dotson, 31, spoke for two hours when she took the stand in her own defense on Monday. Her trial started last month and was expected to last around a month.
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Although closing arguments were expected to be heard in the case on Tuesday, the State Attorney’s Office 18th Judicial Circuit confirmed that a mistrial was instead declared.
The mistrial was declared after the judge said prosecutors withheld key evidence and testimony from the defense. The defense argued that the SAO should have disclosed a recorded interview completed with Joshua Manns, a co-defendant in the case. The prosecutors argued unsuccessfully that they didn’t need to disclose the interview as part of trial discovery, because they didn’t introduce any information or testimony from Manns.
Prosecutors have since formally disclosed the interview.
Officials said the trial will now have to start over at a later date.
Brevard County mom could face death penalty
The backstory:
Dotson is Jameson Nance’s mother, who’s accused of murdering her own son when he died in 2021. She was a Certified Nursing Assistant at Health First at the time of her son’s death and was also attending community college. She was dating Joshua Manns, who’s also facing his own murder charge for his part in the alleged murder of the toddler.
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Dotson is facing first-degree felony murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, aggravated child abuse and felony child abuse charges for her son’s death. The state plans to seek the death penalty if she’s convicted.
The state attorney argues Dotson abused her young son for weeks before he ultimately died. They say text messages and photos found on her phone detail the abuse with her boyfriend. They also claim she invented stories and told her 3-year-old what to say to make sure the abuse was never discovered by other people. The state claims she took her son out of daycare and purposely hid him from the public in the weeks leading up to his death.
The defense argues Dotson was a busy-working mom and student who believed stories the boyfriend told her about injuries Jameson had. Her attorneys say the boyfriend was home with Jameson more than she was. Her defense says she wasn’t the one abusing her son and would take him to the doctor for routine check-ups and would tell people the stories her boyfriend told her about how Jameson got hurt.
The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the State Attorney’s Office 18th Judicial Circuit and gathered from previous reporting.
