Bradley Adcox and Jessica Robbins
Landon RobbinsA trial date has been set for the couple charged in the August 2013 death of 5-year-old Spring City, Tenn., boy Landon Robbins.
The boy's mother, Jessica Robbins, and her boyfriend Bradley Adcox, now face a March 30, 2015, trial date on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder and two counts of aggravated child abuse. Robbins additionally is charged with aggravated child endangerment.
The trial is scheduled for three days, court officials said.
According to testimony in a preliminary hearing Sept. 18, 2013, in General Sessions Court, Landon Robbins, then a student at Spring City Elementary School, died of blunt force trauma, and had bruising and contusions all over his head and face and a bite mark on his back. He had been forced to eat soap and cigarette butts, some of which were found in his digestive tract during autopsy.
Jeff Harmon, 12th Judicial District public defender, who represents Adcox, said he could not comment much on the case.
"We are continuing to work on the case," Harmon said.
Pikeville lawyer Howard Upchurch, who represents Robbins, was in court Thursday and could not be reached.
District Attorney General Mike Taylor said Thursday that prosecutors have filed notice that the state will seek a sentence of life in prison without parole if Adcox and Robbins are convicted as charged.
A trial in which the state seeks a sentence of life without parole or the death penalty takes on an uncommon process, according to Taylor.
Taylor said that if the jury finds the defendants guilty as charged, the trial will immediately move into a sentencing phase in which the jury hears enhancing and mitigating testimony en route to a decision on sentencing.
In trials on lesser charges -- starting from sentences of life with parole on down -- the judge sets a date for a sentencing hearing where the judge determines the sentence.
Taylor said assistant district attorney Jim Pope is handling the case for the state.
In the pair's preliminary hearing, Rhea County Sheriff's detective Rocky Potter testified about statements given by Adcox and Robbins. They started living together last summer near Spring City in a 25-foot-long camper with Landon and his two sisters, then 3 and 4. Adcox is not related to any of the children.
Robbins told investigators that Adcox "was the father figure. I let him do some spanking and set down the rules," according to testimony.
The night before he died, Landon and his sisters were punished for not going to bed by their appointed 7:30 p.m. bedtime.
The girls took a whipping as punishment while Landon had to eat cigarette butts and drink a "big gulp" of dish soap before he was sent outside to play.
The boy came back in with injuries to his nose that Adcox said happened when the boy fell onto a real estate sign in the yard. Landon later began vomiting before he went to bed, and continued to get sicker through the night and into the next day, according to testimony.
On Aug. 30, 2013, a little while after he ate breakfast, Landon stopped breathing.
Court officials said a motion hearing in the case is set for Jan. 23, 2015.
Adcox and Robbins remained at the Rhea County Jail.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.