SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — After a 16-day trial, a Schenectady County jury has found Persia Nelson guilty of killing her 10-month-old daughter in March 2024. NEWS10 Reporter Payton Cavanaugh was in the courtroom when Nelson was convicted on a unanimous vote of second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and endangering the welfare of a child after her daughter, Halo Branton, was dropped into a shed-like structure into shallow water on the GE campus in Schenectady.
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Closing arguments in the trial were heard on October 15, recapping the evidence of a fight between Nelson and her boyfriend the night Branton died, surveillance video from the GE campus, and Nelson’s stained clothing from lying on the ground by the hole the police found Branton in.
“Whether she was crying, or contemplating her decision, or praying, or singing that song to the baby, or whatever she was doing, she had 28 minutes to change her mind from what she did,” Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Christine Tremante said.
The video player above is from the closing arguments heard on October 15. Stay with NEWS10 as more information becomes available…