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Who is Trinity Poague?
Trinity Madison Poague is a former Georgia pageant titleholder. The case concerns the death of her boyfriend’s 18-month-old son, Romeo Angeles, during an incident at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia.
Reports use both Romeo Angeles and, in WALB’s coverage, Romeo “Jaxton Dru” Angeles. He was the child identified in court coverage as being in Poague’s care during the fatal episode.
Case timeline
The January 2024 dorm-room incident
In January 2024, Romeo was found critically injured in or after an incident in a university dorm room. Trial testimony described Poague as alone with him while his father left to get pizza. The child was taken for emergency treatment and later died. WSB-TV and The Independent described that sequence while attributing the precise timing and details to testimony.
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The investigation
CBS News Atlanta reported that university police asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate after the child’s death was reported on January 14, 2024.
The trial and sentencing
In December 2025, a jury found Poague guilty of felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children. Court TV and other reports say the jury acquitted her on a malice-murder count. Judge James Sizemore Jr. imposed the sentence on December 5, 2025.
Evidence and competing accounts
The central dispute was how Romeo sustained the injuries that caused his death. Medical testimony and the parties’ competing explanations were presented as follows:
| Issue | Prosecution evidence or argument | Defense position |
|---|---|---|
| Medical cause of death | Court TV summarized testimony that Romeo died from massive head trauma. WALB reported prosecutors’ claims of blunt-force injuries to the head and torso, with fatal brain and organ damage. | The defense disputed the prosecution’s causation theory and argued that the injuries could have resulted from an accidental event or an earlier incident. |
| Timing and opportunity | Prosecutors relied on testimony that Poague was alone with Romeo while his father went to get pizza and that the child was found badly injured afterward. | The defense challenged the prosecution’s reconstruction of when and how the injuries occurred. |
| Consistency of explanations | CBS News Atlanta reported that prosecutors pointed to conflicting explanations attributed to Poague about what had happened. | Defense lawyers offered alternative interpretations of the accounts and argued that inconsistency did not establish that Poague caused the fatal injuries. |
| Alternative mechanisms | The prosecution maintained that the pattern and severity of the injuries were consistent with inflicted blunt-force trauma. | The defense raised a fall from a bed, an earlier incident involving Romeo’s father, and other events before the fatal episode as possible explanations. Those were courtroom arguments, not findings that another person caused the death. |
| Legal theory | The state secured a felony-murder conviction and a first-degree-cruelty conviction. | The jury did not convict Poague of malice murder, according to Court TV and other reports. |
The jury’s verdict establishes the counts on which Poague was convicted; it does not turn every prosecution or defense assertion into an independently proven fact.
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What sentence did Poague receive?
| Count | Verdict | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Felony murder | Guilty | Life imprisonment, with parole eligibility after 30 years |
| First-degree cruelty to children | Guilty | 20 years, served concurrently with the life sentence |
| Malice murder | Acquitted, according to reported trial coverage | No sentence on that count |
When can she seek parole?
The sentence makes Poague eligible to be considered for parole after 30 years. Eligibility is not an automatic release date: the parole process can result in continued imprisonment.
The judge’s statement
The Independent quoted Southwestern Circuit Court Judge James Sizemore Jr. as saying: “The bottom line is you’re going to receive a sentence of life in prison, which is the appropriate sentence for the conduct that you have been convicted of.”
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Why the murder counts are described differently
Felony murder
Felony murder generally covers a death caused during the commission of a qualifying felony and does not require the jury to find the specific intent to kill that a malice-murder charge alleges. Poague’s felony-murder conviction is the basis for the life term reported in this case.
Malice murder
Malice murder alleges an intentional killing. Reports say the jury acquitted Poague on that charge, even while finding her guilty of felony murder.
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First-degree cruelty to children
This separate conviction concerns criminally inflicting severe harm on a child. Its 20-year term runs at the same time as the life sentence rather than adding 20 years after it.
Quick Recap
What is established about Romeo Angeles?
- He was 18 months old.
- He was the son of Poague’s boyfriend.
- The reported incident occurred in a dorm room at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus.
- He suffered injuries requiring emergency treatment and later died.
- The jury convicted Poague of felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children.
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