HERNANDO, Mississippi (AP) — A Horn Lake father and his wife have pleaded guilty in the death of the man’s 11-year-old son.
Jack Thomas Raines and Amanda Leigh Raines each pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder.
District Attorney John Champion says the case had been set to go to trial, but the couple decided to enter the guilty pleas in DeSoto County Circuit Court. He says a jury will decide the sentence. A date for sentencing has not been set.
The couple was charged in the death of Justin Tyler Raines, who authorities said weighed 56 pounds when he was found dead by police in the bathroom of the family’s rental home on Feb. 6, 2014.
Amanda Raines was the boy’s stepmother.
Both remain in the DeSoto County Jail.
