T’Kia Bevily retrial is underway in Monroe County

The retrial of T’Kia Bevily, the Claiborne County woman accused of murdering her 14-month-old stepdaughter in 2017, is well underway in Monroe County.

On Monday, over 300 individuals were interviewed for jury selection.  The process took over nine hours to select the twelve jurors that would be tasked with determining if Bevily is guilty of capital murder, WLBT reports.

In October of 2017, Jurayah Smith died while in the care of Morris Bevily, the child’s father, and his wife T’Kia.  The child was said to have sustained multiple blunt-force injuries to her head.

Last year, T’Kia was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.  However, the conviction was later overturned when it was revealed that one of the jurors in the trial was the victim’s great uncle.

Prosecutors allege that T’Kia killed the toddler for ‘messing up her perfect life’ that she had planned with her husband.  The defense denies that claim and says that Jurayah was injured before the Bevily’s picked her up that day and that they were unaware of the injuries.

Morris Bevily was also charged with capital murder, but has not yet gone to trial.