A MOM accused of killing her toddler son has broken down in tears during the first day of her murder trial.
Leilani Simon allegedly beat her son, 20-month-old Quinton Simon, to death and left his body in a dumpster in 2022.
Leilani Simon wiping her tears away in the Georgia courthouse on Monday[/caption]
Quinton Simon, whose body was found in a landfill[/caption]
Simon’s booking photo after she was arrested and charged with the murder of her toddler son in November 2022[/caption]
Quinton’s crib, which was shown during Monday’s opening statements[/caption]
Simon staring down the camera during her court appearance on Monday[/caption]
Almost exactly two years later, the murder trial started on Monday in Savannah, Georgia.
Simon was seen wiping away her tears in the courthouse on Monday, the first day of the arguments in the trial after jury selection concluded last week.
As Chatham County Superior Court Judge Tammy Stokes read out rules for the jurors ahead of the opening statements, Simon was also seen eerily staring at the live stream camera.
Quinton was reported missing from his home on October 5, 2022. Police found his body in a nearby landfill over a month later.
Prosecutors believe Simon killed her son by assaulting him with an unknown object and left his body in a dumpster near her home.
“In the middle of the night she killed him, her own son, got in her car with his body, drove to a dumpster, and threw him away like a piece of trash,” prosecutors said in opening statements on Monday.
Simon faces 19 charges, including murder, concealing a death, falsely reporting a crime, and 14 counts of lying to investigators.
She initially told cops that Quinton must have been abducted because their front door was left open.
The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.
The selected jury is made up of 10 men and six women.
Prosecutors showed the court a heartbreaking picture of Quinton’s crib during the opening statements.
Last week, Judge Stokes ruled to allow evidence at the trial about Simon’s drug use and mental state at the time of her son’s disappearance.
The evidence was shown on Monday as prosecutors played a “digital suicide note” that Simon recorded in August 2022 as she spoke about ending her life.
In the video, filmed as she was driving, Simon gave a tearful message to Quinton and lashed out at her ex-boyfriend.
“Momma’s not here no more because she doesn’t want you,” Simon said while sobbing in the clip.
“I can’t love myself. If I can’t love myself how can I love y’all? I have tried over and over and over and I failed.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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