DECATUR, Ga. -- The man who drowned his 10-year-old adopted son in a bathtub was sentenced to life without parole plus 65 years in prison on Friday.
Leon Harvey Williams, 44, was convicted of killing Kentae Williams earlier this year by a DeKalb County jury.
Williams had adopted the boy five months prior to the child's death.
Kentae died on April 28, 2017, following a series of incidents involving his adoptive father.
According to the investigation, neighbors heard Williams, apparently upset with the child’s behavior at school, yelling at and threatening the child while dragging him by his neck around their Glen Hollow Drive apartment complex.
One neighbor reported hearing Leon Williams say, “You’re gonna die tonight!”
Shortly before his death, Kentae was beaten with a belt and forced into the bathtub where scalding hot water caused second degree burns to his feet. The child’s head was then submerged under water twice after he complained about the water temperature.
Leon Williams called emergency crews to the home after Kentae lost consciousness. The boy was rushed to the hospital where he later died, and Leon Williams was arrested the next day.
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During his initial interview with police, Leon Williams admitted to striking the child with a belt multiple times, holding him under water, and causing the burns to his feet, but he claimed it was an accident. Jurors rejected that defense.
