Christiansburg man pleads guilty to child s murder roanoke.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from roanoke.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The child died and Thomas then boyfriend is charged with the boy s murder.
Thomas faces charges of inanimate object sexual penetration, forcible sodomy, making child pornography, and distributing or electronically transmitting child pornography.
The first two charges carry mandatory life sentences if Thomas is convicted.
Thomas began Wednesday s hearing in county Circuit Court by pleading not guilty to all four charges. Her attorney, Andrew Harman of Wytheville, told jurors that Thomas had committed the acts she is accused of, but said she was forced into them by her boyfriend, McKenzie Kyle Hellman, 27.
Jurors looked dismayed as they watched videos that Thomas made of herself abusing her son. Christiansburg police Investigator Nathan Delp testified the videos were found on Thomas phone. The prosecution s evidence it to continue into the afternoon.
A Montgomery County jury found Kayla Nicole Thomas guilty Wednesday of four counts of sexually abusing her late son.
The jury recommended a sentence of two life terms plus 10 years. A sentencing hearing is set for Sept. 23.
During testimony that lasted all day, witnesses described how 2-year-old Steven Dale Meek II was sexually abused on Jan. 8, 2019. The prosecution described how Thomas boyfriend McKenzie Kyle Hellman asked Thomas to abuse her son, and she did so, making five, 30-second videos of the abuse and sending them to Hellman.
Thomas, 27, took the witness stand and testified that she had done the acts she is accused of, but said she did so because was terrified of Hellman. She said she and Hellman, 27, had dated for about two years, and moved into together in Christiansburg mobile home, just weeks before the abuse of Steven. During those weeks, Hellman had used methamphetamine, Thomas said, and his personality changed.
Trial set to begin in alleged sex abuse of 2-year-old boy
March 14, 2021
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CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) A long-delayed trial is set to begin for a Virginia man accused of sexually abusing and making child pornography of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son.
The Roanoke Times reports that McKenzie Kyle Hellman, 27, of Christiansburg, is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
Hellman is also facing charges of second-degree murder in the boy s death, and child abuse, but those counts have been separated from the sex charges and will be considered at a separate proceeding later.
Hellman and his girlfriend, Kayla Nicole Thomas, also 27, were arrested after the January 2019 death of Steven Dale Meek II, who was Thomas’ son.