Damian Andre Wright was sentenced to a total of 90 years after a Greene County jury found him guilty on Wednesday of first- and second-degree cruelty to children and three counts of aggravated battery. The convictions stem from physical abuse of a nonverbal 3-year-old with developmental disabilities that caused fractures to the child’s spine and both arms. In a separate case resolved after the verdict, Wright pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault for trying to run over his infant son’s mother and grandmother with a vehicle.
The child-abuse sentence consists of 25 years in prison followed by 65 years on probation. The trial lasted three days, according to CBS News, which also reported that Trammell imposed a 20-year prison sentence in the aggravated-assault case, to run concurrently with the child-abuse sentence.
Injuries Detailed in Court
Medical findings presented at trial established that the child suffered a spinal compression fracture and fractures to both arms. The abuse occurred in September 2024.
Investigators and Prosecutors Behind the Case
The child abuse case was investigated by the Greensboro Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Blayne May and Devin Sinclair, with Victim Advocate Jessica Duvall and Legal Assistant Kristina Brewer also part of the team, according to the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office. The Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit, overseen by District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale III, spans eight Georgia counties — Baldwin, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Jones, Morgan, Putnam, and Wilkinson.
Judge Trammell, who presided over both the trial and sentencing in Greene County, has served on the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit bench since Governor Nathan Deal appointed her in January 2015.
What the Charges Mean Under Georgia Law
Under Georgia Code § 16-5-70(b), first-degree cruelty to children is a felony defined as maliciously causing a child under 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain, carrying a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison per count. Second-degree cruelty to children, defined under Georgia Code § 16-5-70(c), covers causing cruel or excessive pain through criminal negligence and is punishable by one to 10 years in prison. The three aggravated battery counts fall under Georgia Code § 16-5-24, which classifies the felony as maliciously depriving a victim of a body member, rendering it useless, or causing serious disfigurement, with a statutory penalty of one to 20 years per count.
Reporting Rules and a Separate Georgia Case
Georgia DFCS policy says the agency will report known or suspected child abuse to the intake center within 24 hours and separately notes that mandated reporters have a legal reporting obligation, according to the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services Child Welfare Policy Manual. That obligation does not establish what any particular person did in Wright’s case.
As a historical comparison, not an equivalent case, the Court of Appeals of Georgia’s 2000 Mashburn v. State opinion recounted a separate March 1998 child-abuse incident in Cherokee County involving a five-year-old and a different defendant.
