Defense attorneys in Megan Boswell’s murder trial say that prosecutors will be unable to prove she killed her 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn Boswell.
During their opening statements on February 5 at the Sullivan County trial in Tennessee, Boswell’s defense team emphasized that it would be difficult to prove premeditated murder in the case.
“They’ve asked you to convict Megan Boswell of first-degree murder in three different ways. They’ve asked you to find it is a premeditated and intentional killing of her child, and then they’re asking you to find that it’s a murder that is perpetrated as part of child abuse, and then they’re saying that if it’s not that, then surely it’s because of child neglect,” defense attorney Gene G. Scott Jr. told jurors. “That’s a problem.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Boswell was initially facing 19 charges in connection with the death of her 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn, who was the centerpiece of a February 2020 AMBER Alert. Authorities discovered Evelyn’s body on a family member’s property in March 2020, hidden in the same play shed that the defendant played in as a child.
Prosecutors emphasized the inconsistent statements Boswell allegedly made to investigators while they searched for Evelyn in 2020. They asserted that she intentionally stalled law enforcement while knowing all along that her child was deceased.
“There’s so much more to this story that you’re going to hear because Evelyn did not have to die. Evelyn could be here today,” Assistant District Attorney Amber Massengill told jurors.
Deputy District Attorney William B. Harper announced that prosecutors plan to prove Boswell’s guilt in the first-degree murder of her daughter.
Meanwhile, the defense indicated their strategies to show that Boswell is not guilty of premeditated murder.
“I’m not asking you to find her innocent of anything because that’s not your focus. Your job is to determine whether the state can prove beyond a reasonable doubt into a moral certainty that she committed each and every element of the offenses charged,” Scott told jurors.
Knox News reports that the defense posed several key questions during the trial:
How did baby Evelyn die, and did Boswell murder her? Was the death accidental or due to natural causes? Could fear or past life experiences have influenced the 18-year-old Boswell’s decision not to report the baby’s death? Additionally, the defense questioned who else might have knowledge of the situation or could share in the blame.
The prosecution claimed that the child would not have been reported missing if not for Boswell’s father, Tommy Boswell:
In September 2020, Special agent Brian Fraley with the TBI explained how he came across the body, which had been hidden in a trashcan inside the play shed on Tommy Boswell’s property. It’s the same shed that Megan Boswell played in as a child.
“It was my belief (the trash can was) placed there recently,” Fraley said, recalling when he discovered Evelyn’s body in 2020. “I observed a leg (with) a foot attached … on top of the trash. It was consistent with an infant of the
Boswell has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her, which include, in part, felony murder, abuse of a corpse, and concealing a death.
The trial continues. Check back for updates.
Read all of our Evelyn Boswell coverage here
[Feature Photo via TBI]
