Polk man pleads guilty to toddler’s murder, gets life sentence
A Cedartown man will avoid the death penalty after pleading guilty in the murder of an infant, but he will spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole.
Dustin
Drew Putnal,
29, pleaded guilty Thursday and was sentenced to life without parole for the
2016 murder of 21-monthold Ella
Grayce
Pointer in late 2016.
Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jack Browning announced the state would seek the death penalty in a filing back in April 2017, months after Putnal’s arrest. However a May ruling from the Georgia Supreme Court decision concerning a pre-trial appeal would have made it much more difficult to get a death penalty conviction.
In June 2017, Putnal’s attorneys presented the court with motions to be heard without notice to the prosecution concerning allowing access to Putnal by two mental health experts. Originally, the judge approved the request and ruled they should be confidential. However, three days later the judge filed the motions and orders publicly and had them sent to prosecutors.
After starting an appeal in December 2017 over the decision, in May the Georgia State Supreme Court ruled that revealing the motion was a mistake.
Browning said the judge’s actions “placed any trial and resulting conviction and sentence in this case in jeopardy for years to come.”
“This has been a nightmare for the family that cannot be put into words — from the loss of Ella Grayce, to the amount of time that has passed and uncertainty concerning the case against Putnal as it moved through the court system,” Browning said.