Victoria Toth, an Orlando mother accused of failing to care for her beaten 2-year-old boy Jayce Martin in July 2018, did not respond kindly to reporters at her trial on Tuesday morning. She flipped the bird to a courtroom camera manned by WFTV-TV.
Just getting a look at the video from court. Victoria Toth had a message for us, as she sat there charged with killing her 2yo son. #WFTV pic.twitter.com/mSTgTj6Og1
— Field Sutton (@FSuttonWFTV) August 13, 2019
Toth was in court to secure new attorneys. She is now being represented by the public defender’s office, court records reviewed by Law&Crime indicate. Her previous attorney withdrew due to a conflict, records show, and Toth herself failed to appear at the previous hearing where her original attorney moved to leave the case.
According to reports, Toth’s son was hit so violently that his spine was driven through his intestines. Toth said she never took the boy to the hospital because she was afraid her boyfriend, Johnathan Pursglove, would get in trouble. She also reportedly said she Googled the boy’s symptoms, gave him water, and sent him to bed. Both Pursglove and Toth have been charged with aggravated manslaughter. They will be tried together in mid-October. The case is being described as a torture death.
In February, Toth claimed that Jayce’s ghost had been talking to her and Pursglove and telling them that everything was going to fine. Police also stated that despite being explicitly prohibited from doing so, Toth and Pursglove had been speaking while Pursglove was in jail.
During today’s hearings, court records reviewed by Law&Crime indicate that the judge again stated that a no-contact order between Toth and Pursglove “or any other witness is to remain in full force and effect.”
[Photo via WFTV-TV screen capture.]
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