Jury reaches verdict in case of Phenix City man charged with murder in child’s death
A man who was babysitting a Phenix City toddler when the child fatally was injured in 2017 has been convicted of murder in Lee County, Alabama, prosecutors said.
Mark Harold Hagler was 48 years old when he and his then-girlfriend were caring for 15-month-old Konner Flowers at their home on Lee Road 427 in Phenix City’s Huntington Hills Subdivision, investigators said.
The couple had just hosted a barbecue with friends in June 2017, when witnesses said the boy appeared healthy.
Afterward the girlfriend called 911 at 4:46 a.m. June 4 to report Konner wasn’t breathing. He was rushed to a hospital in Columbus, where he was pronounced dead from blunt-force trauma to the abdomen at 7:30 a.m., according to previous reports.
“Bruising noticed by emergency room nurses and doctors during the treatment of Konner resulted in Lee County Sheriff’s investigators being notified of suspicious circumstances,” Lee County Coroner Bill Harris wrote in a news release at the time.
During Hagler’s trial, a medical examiner testified the child also had trauma to his head and legs.
A jury deliberated for about two hours Friday before finding Hagler guilty of felony murder based on aggravated child abuse.
He faces a sentence ranging from 10 years to life in prison, according to Lee County District Attorney Jessica Ventiere, who posted the verdict to her office’s Facebook page.
Hagler’s home was in a part of Phenix City that extends into Lee County, which is why he was prosecuted there. Lee Road 427 also is known as Pierce Road.