After they found the baby’s body near an apartment complex, authorities arrested a six-month-old baby’s father in connection with the child’s October 2025 death.
The news comes three days after baby Pratt was reported missing on Valley Hill Road in Riverdale. Clayton County Police responded to the apartment complex and immediately focused its search around the apartment complex.
Early on, the child’s father was arrested on unrelated charges. While in custody, he told investigators that several armed men accosted him in his vehicle, taking valuables and removing the baby from his car seat. But investigators didn’t buy it.
“As the investigation into the missing child advanced, detectives became suspicious due to inconsistent testimony along with physical evidence that points to the existence of foul play,” a police spokesperson said. “At this moment, the facts surrounding the baby’s disappearance are highly questionable, and CPD investigators have deemed the child’s father to be a suspect in his sudden disappearance.”
Early-Stage Homicide Investigations
Police investigators are suspicious by nature. In homicide investigations, their suspicions usually fall on family members and close friends, especially if investigators have reasonable suspicion, which is basically an evidence-based hunch.
The Supreme Court has watered down the reasonable suspicion rule in recent years, most notably in 2016’s Utah vs. Streiff. Officers surveilling a suspected drug house saw Strieff enter the house, stay briefly, and leave. Officers detained him, found an outstanding traffic warrant, and discovered illegal drugs during a search incident to arrest.
Even though officers had no evidence of wrongdoing and the warrants were unrelated to drugs, a divided Supreme Court upheld the stop and expanded police powers.
Nevertheless, the Supremes didn’t overturn the reasonable suspicion rule, which dates back to Terry v. Ohio (1968). In this case, the Court permitted officers to stop and frisk individuals when they have reasonable suspicion that a person may be armed and dangerous. This standard is crucial for maintaining a balance between effective policing and individual rights under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
In the above story, investigators didn’t have much evidence against the father. Inconsistent statements are suspicious, but they don’t constitute reasonable suspicion. However, the “physical evidence,” whatever it was, may have been sufficient.
Late-Stage Homicide Investigations
To obtain an arrest warrant in a homicide or other criminal investigation, officers must have probable cause. Investigators typically rely on the defendant’s statements, an informer’s statements, and/or lineup identifications. All three things have issues that a Marietta criminal defense lawyer can exploit.
Usually, personal statements are only admissible in court if officers properly warn defendants. They often don’t issue this warning (you have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney, etc.) if the suspect voluntarily appears at police headquarters and voluntarily agrees to answer questions.
The Supreme Court has also watered down this rule. Suspects must affirmatively assert their constitutional rights, not just keep their mouths closed.
Informer statements often have reliability issues. Usually, investigators either pay informants or promise them leniency in another matter. Most people will say practically anything for love or money.
Note that there’s a difference between reliability and accuracy. A blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut, but a blind squirrel is clearly unreliable. At this stage, reliability is all that counts. Accuracy counts when the case goes to court. More on that below.
Photo and live lineup identifications also have reliability issues. Photo lineups, especially single-photo lineups, are very suggestive. Most witnesses feel intense pressure to pick a suspect. Most live lineups are single-blind lineups. The administering officer knows the suspect’s identity. Therefore, the officer gives the witness subtle or not-so-subtle clues as to which person to select.
Proof Issues at Trial
Proof beyond any reasonable doubt is the highest standard of proof used in the American legal system. It applies exclusively to criminal trials. PBRD basically means that the evidence presented by the prosecution must be so convincing that there is no reasonable doubt in the mind of a rational person that the defendant committed the crime. While it does not require absolute certainty or the elimination of all doubt, it demands a high level of certainty before a person can be found guilty.
This standard is a cornerstone of the U.S. justice system, designed to protect individuals from wrongful conviction. The burden of proof lies entirely with the prosecution. The defendant is presumed innocent, and in fact presumed wrongfully accused, until proven guilty. A jury or judge must only convict if, after considering all the evidence, they are firmly convinced of the defendant’s guilt. If there is any reasonable doubt, meaning a doubt based on reason and common sense, not speculation or imagined scenarios, the jury must acquit.
This high standard serves a dual purpose. It holds the state to a rigorous level of accountability, and it reinforces the principle that it is better for a guilty person to go free than for an innocent person to be wrongly punished. The concept reflects the serious consequences of criminal convictions, such as loss of freedom, reputation, and civil rights.
One important, yet often overlooked, element of a homicide case is a homicide. The state must do more than produce a dead body. The state must also prove that the decedent didn’t die of natural causes. That’s why the coroner’s report is so critical in these cases. That’s also why a Marietta criminal defense lawyer often partners with an independent forensic pathologist who reviews the coroner’s findings.
If the state cannot prove homicide beyond a reasonable doubt, the case doesn’t get off the ground, and the defendant is not guilty as a matter of law. Any motive, means, or opportunity, regardless of the strength of that evidence, instantly becomes irrelevant.
Criminal investigations in Georgia have multiple moving parts. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta criminal defense attorney, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. Virtual, home, and jail visits are available.
