Trinity Madison Poague, now 20 and a former beauty queen titled Miss Donalsonville 2023, is on trial in Sumter County, Georgia, for the January 14, 2024, death of her then-boyfriend Julian Williams’ 18-month-old son, Romeo Angeles (also known as Jaxton Dru Williams or J.D.), whom she allegedly beat due to resentment.​​
Prosecution Case
Prosecutors, led by Lewis Lamb, allege Poague inflicted blunt force trauma causing a fractured skull, brain bleed, lacerated liver, and head bruises on the child while alone with him in her Georgia Southwestern State University dorm room; videos show J.D. healthy when Williams left for Walmart around noon, but Poague texted that he stopped breathing shortly after. Lamb highlighted her texts expressing hatred for J.D., jealousy over Williams’ attention to his son, and desire to start their own family without embracing a stepmother role. The brain injury timing points to an assault hours before hospital arrival, where J.D. could not be stabilized.​​
Defense Argument
Attorney W.T. Gamble claims Poague is innocent and a victim of rushed conclusions, asserting injuries stemmed from a 40-inch fall off a dorm bed the prior night amid cries heard by others, with Williams allegedly drunk and the child’s empty stomach suggesting prior illness. He urged jurors against convicting on “innocent blood.” Poague faces charges including malice murder, felony murder (two counts), aggravated battery (two counts), and first-degree cruelty to children, with a not guilty plea entered last year; the trial, underway since December 2, 2025, is expected to last two days.
