NOTTOWAY COUNTY, Va. -- In a Nottoway courtroom Thursday, jurors heard powerful closing arguments from both sides of a case involving the death of young boy.
His mother has been charged with his murder.
One piece of evidence that got the attention of the jury was reading a letter to Nottoway Social Services prior to Tyson Tharpe's death.
The letter was written by a VCU doctor and child abuse expert, five months before five-year-old Tyson died.
The doctor warned NSS that if the boy was left in the custody of the defendant, his mother, he would most certainly suffer severe injury or death.
That prediction came true in March of 2017.
A medical examiner ruled it a homicide, with the cause of death blunt force trauma to the head. Young Tyson also suffered a laceration to the liver and a crushed testicle.
The defense argued that happened during CPR, but it was noted the boy had no recently cracked ribs.
A year after his death, mother Cyndi Tharpe was indicted for felony murder and felony child abuse. And her fate is now in the hands of a jury that deliberated for close to six hours Thursday and will reconvene Friday morning.
CBS-6 legal expert Todd Stone says, that if she is convicted on both charges, Tharpe could face up to fifty years in prison.
The friends and family that have shown unwavering support for Tharpe all week in the courtroom say they will certainly be inside for a possible verdict Friday.
