A Stockbridge man says his wife inflicted the injuries that killed his daughter five years ago, his attorney told a Henry County jury Monday.
"Rodney Reaves told me he never beat his daughter," defense lawyer Gary Bowman said. "My client was not even here when this child died."
"She was beat up one side and down the other," Henry District Attorney Tommy Floyd told the jury in his opening statement. "She had injuries that matched the end of an umbrella, some consistent with a baseball bat, but no broken bones."
Rodney Reaves, 42, and Charlott Lynett Reaves, 43, the stepmother of Joella, are charged with murder in the torture and beating death of the girl over the 2003 Thanksgiving weekend. Charlott Reaves is scheduled for trial in in April.
Before testimony started Monday, Superior Court Judge Wade Crumbley asked Rodney Reaves if he had any complaints against his court-appointed attorneys. Rodney Reaves voiced in court what others have been wondering: What took the case so long to get to trial?
"There are things that could have been done that weren't," Reaves said. "I feel my attorneys hindered this going forward, keeping things going back and forth."
Lawyers say the case was delayed because of appeals and procedural issues. Several defense attorneys had to be replaced.
Henry Detective Rene Swanson, the first witness, testified that the long 2003 Thanksgiving weekend started with Joella being punished for stealing loose change and mouthwash from her brother, Mikey Reaves, also 11 at the time.
As punishment for the alleged thefts, Charlott Reaves ordered Joella to write "I'm a thief, a liar, good for nothing and I stink" repeatedly on notebook paper.
When the girl refused, she was beaten and tortured, Floyd said.
Jurors heard a 45-minute taped interview of Rodney Reaves by Swanson in his living room minutes after calling 911. Jurors listened along with the aid of a written transcript.
Rodney Reaves, who'd been in the Navy for years, said he left the Sunday after Thanksgiving to return to the ship and was 400 miles away when his wife called, demanding he return to control Joella. When he got home Monday morning, his wife was at work, his son was at school and his daughter was dead in her bed, Reaves said.
Reaves called 911 to report the death and demand help, testified Swanson, the first witness of the trial. Swanson was among the first officers at the house and testified to seeing the dead girl partially covered up in her bed. Shown a close-up color photo of the girl, Swanson immediately burst into tears.
The photo remained in full view of the courtroom for more than 10 minutes but Rodney Reaves did not visibly react.
Though he now denies killing his daughter, Reaves told police he did tie up his daughter with speaker wire and left her in the garage while he took his wife and son to Stonecrest Mall in Lithonia the day after Thanksgiving. He said a therapist advised him to do that when Joella acted out and hurt herself.
The trial is expected to last about a week.



