Tyrone Covington, a U.S. Army combat veteran who a jury decided was responsible for the horrific beating death of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son, will spend three decades in prison for the crime. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)
(Tribune News Service) — Tyrone Covington, a U.S. Army combat veteran who a jury decided was responsible for the horrific beating death of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son, will spend three decades in prison for the crime.
Hillsborough Circuit Judge Lyann Goudie in Florida sentenced Covington to 30 years in prison Monday for causing the death of Josiyah Robinson.
Court testimony and medical records indicated the boy was hit more than 100 times with a belt before he collapsed one night five years ago in what was described as an effort to discipline him.
But what happened went far beyond discipline.
“When I stop, Mr. Covington, and think about how Josiyah spent the last hour of his life feeling fear, it makes me sick,” Goudie said.
Although he did not speak in court, Covington’s defense told the judge he maintains his innocence.
They argued at trial that he was not to blame for the boy’s injuries. Instead, they pointed to Josiyah’s oldest sibling, a boy who was 14 at the time and who admitted he sometimes struck his siblings as a form of discipline out of frustration.
But the evidence was lacking. The jury didn’t buy it. Neither did the judge.
“He didn’t commit that crime,” Goudie told Covington. “It was you.”
Covington, 45, was found guilty of manslaughter in the 8-year-old’s death. It was a lesser conviction than the first-degree murder charge that prosecutors had brought, but one that nevertheless carried a hefty penalty. He was also convicted of aggravated child abuse.
The events that led to Josiyah’s death unfolded the night of Oct. 22, 2020. His family was moving out of their small apartment in the Asprey Lake complex off Gornto Lake Road.
The Tampa Bay Times is not identifying the boy’s eight surviving siblings or their mother due to the nature of the crimes.
The children, their mother and Covington hauled carloads of belongings to their new place. Late that night, the mother became angry when she discovered her keys had been locked in her car. She blamed 8-year-old Josiyah for the mishap.
After a locksmith was called and paid, she and Covington discussed discipline.
The boy’s 14-year-old brother testified at trial, describing having seen Covington brutally whip the little boy with a belt in the apartment’s primary bedroom. Two of their younger brothers heard his screams from an adjacent room.
The boy was struck more than 100 times. His brother said at one point Covington made him do military exercises called “front-back-goes,” a rapid series of pushups, situps and jumping jacks.
When Josiyah collapsed, Covington and the older boy placed him in a shower to try to revive him. He was taken to Brandon Regional Hospital and later flown to All Children’s in St. Petersburg. He died there the next day.
In court Monday, the boy’s oldest brother, now 19, once again spoke, telling the judge he is haunted by guilt.
“I see it over and over, my brother being beaten, while I sit against that wall,” he said. “I ask myself constantly, if only I had done something, if only I’d stopped Tyrone, would my brother still be here?”
The tragedy shattered the family. The surviving children were placed in foster care. The oldest boy described what happened as putting him on a troubled path. He began drinking. He ran away from home.
He blamed Covington for his struggles, noting that he’d tried to blame him for his brother’s death. He insisted that he loved all his siblings.
“During the trial, I was called a murderer to my face, when in reality, I was a terrified kid frozen in shock watching something I could never unsee,” he said. “Yes, I was a troubled teen. Yes, I fought with my siblings like kids sometimes do. But I could never kill one of them. Not a single part of me.”
The court also heard from Josiyah’s mother. She gave birth to a daughter four hours after he died, and Covington was the father. She cried throughout her labor, she said, because she knew her children would all be taken away from her.
“There are no words strong enough to describe delivering life while drowning in death,” she said.
The mother did not testify at trial.
Assistant Public Defender Donna Perry suggested there was a simple reason the state never called her as a witness: She would have had to admit in front of the jury that she had long denied Covington had beat the boy.
“For six months, she said he did not do this,” Perry said in court.
The judge had little to say about the mother except that she didn’t understand how a woman could let another man discipline her child. She also noted the enormous responsibility the mother placed on her oldest son, who was in and out of school as he helped to care for his younger siblings.
As she handed down the sentence, Goudie noted Covington’s military service, which included tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. She commended him and all soldiers for their duty.
But she said Covington’s sacrifice “pales in comparison” to the suffering he inflicted. She spoke of Josiyah’s injuries, noting that not a single part of his body was left unbruised.
“I don’t know what took over you,” she told Covington. “But what happened to this kid should never happen to anyone. Ever. Let alone an 8-year-old kid. All ’cause he locked some keys in a car.”
Before Covington was led away by sheriff’s deputies, the judge let him hug his mother and a friend who stood in the gallery.
Over a wooden barrier, his mother reached up and embraced his broad shoulders for more than half a minute. He whispered in her ear. She kissed his cheek. She cradled his face.
Covington plans to appeal his conviction.
Information from WTVT-Fox 13 contributed to this report.
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