The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction and life sentence given to Kelcey E. Jones for the 2003 murder of his 4-year-old son.

The boy, Joshua, died from blows to his head and abdomen. The medical examiner compared the injuries to a head being slammed against an “immobile object,” saying the boy had been punched or kicked in the stomach, according to a case summary released with the decision Monday.

Evidence at trial showed that Jones was at his girlfriend’s Twiggs County home Sept. 15, 2003, and went into Joshua’s room at one point. When his girlfriend went into the room later, she found the boy “soiled and unconscious,” according to the summary.

The girlfriend took Joshua to a hospital, where he died later that day.

Jones was sentenced to life plus an additional 20 years for cruelty to a child. The high court vacated the child cruelty conviction because it should have been merged into the murder conviction as a matter of law.

Jones still must serve life in prison.

In a separate case, the court also upheld a 2009 Bibb County murder conviction for Tavaris Danielle Smith.

Smith was sentenced to life in prison in the 2003 shooting death of his wife, 27-year-old Tiffany Smith.

Tiffany Smith was a fifth-grade math teacher at Brookdale Elementary School. She was shot in the head as she lay in bed June 5, 2003.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.