Judge SLAMS Stepdad in Shocking Abuse Case

You might have some nice words for us. right now, but I saw the pictures. I saw what you. did to that child. What is wrong with you? How can you do. that? A Detroit man will spend the next. several decades in prison after he beat. his young stepson to death. Jamar Hill. entered a guilty plea confessing to. murdering the 8-year-old. But at. sentencing, the judge blasted Hill for. what he saw as quote fake remorse. This. comes as many have cried foul over the.

sentence Hill ended up getting. We will. discuss it all with criminal defense. attorney and former prosecutor Josh. Corman. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by. Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. According to Wayne County, Michigan. prosecutors, 8-year-old Adrien Tims Jr. stood little chance of surviving past. childhood. And that's thanks to the. treatment that he received at the hands. of his own mother and her partner. The. boy's grandmother said the malnourished. and mistreated child weighed just 33.

pounds when he died in November of 2024. Just imagine that. A growing 8-year-old. child weighing just 33 lbs. We go back. to November 8th at around 12:30 in the. morning. Medics responded to a home on. Claremont Avenue in Detroit to try to. save Adrian, whose wounds would end up. becoming fatal. He was pronounced dead. at a local hospital with the medical. examiner determining his cause of death. to be multiple blunt force trauma. injuries to the head. Now, Adrian's.

mother, 32-year-old Canto Moss, and his. stepfather, 37year-old Jamar Hill, were. charged with killing him. This was on. November 12th. Hill was denied release. altogether, but Moss was actually. granted a bond in January, although the. exact amount that she posted to. guarantee her return to court is kind of. unclear at this point. But what we do. know is that prosecutor Kim Worthy had. this to say about what happened inside. that home in November. The alleged facts. in this case are chilling. The.

defendants in this case worked in tandem. to beat and eventually kill this poor. child, two adults against an 8-year-old. Little Adrian had zero chance of. surviving. Now, to talk about this horrific story, to talk about Hill's plea deal, which. you might say is quite controversial, Moss' continuing case, I want to bring. in criminal defense attorney and former. prosecutor Josh Corman. Josh, thanks so. much for coming on Sidebar. Appreciate. it.

>> Thanks for having me. >> You've seen a lot of cases from both the. prosecution, the defense side. How hard. is it when you have to handle a case. that involves the death of a child and. not only a child, a young child, and the. circumstances that we're talking about. here, beaten to death, malnourished. How. how tough is it to handle a case like. this? >> Uh, and you're exactly right. I think. for both sides, for the prosecution and. the defense and the judge and the. juries, these are certainly the worst. cases um that you have to deal with.

looking at the pictures, kind of. understand the circumstances that led to. that. Um, they're they're horrible cases. and they're the kind of cases that that. stay with you for a long time. >> Are they easier though to prosecute? Does it affect things if you have two. caregivers who are arrested? I always. wonder that wonder that in the in cases. involving the death of a young child, right? It's different than dealing with. the death of an adult. There can be. complicating factors. There could be. alternative suspects. There could be a.

self-defense argument. When you're. dealing with a defenseless child, though, to me, I wonder, is it easier to. prosecute and secure conviction? >> Well, I think you're certainly uh you're. going to have cases where you have the. most sympathetic victim um when you're. prosecuting these kind of cases. Sometimes though, these cases can be. difficult because there's so much of a. of an unknown. Um there's not other. witnesses to it. A lot of times the. medical examiner's testimony becomes so. important. In this case, I think it. looks like the evidence was overwhelming. based on the injuries that the child.

had, but oftentimes the the amount of uh. injuries or the photographs um or. specifically what exactly was going on. or how long those injuries had been. there are difficult things to prove in. court. And that that is a lot of times. why you see prosecutors um coming up. with what some people may think would be. um a too lenient of a of a plea. agreement. In this case, it sounds like. the the pictures were were horrendous. I. know in the sentencing hearing, the. judge made a point of saying to them. even after the agreement was reached um.

that in his career, these were the the. worst pictures that he had ever seen and. that um he thought that a life sentence. was certainly an appropriate sentence, but for the agreement that had been. reached and he was going to honor that. agreement. >> And we'll talk about what that sentence. is, but let's just first talk about what. he was charged with. So, Hill was. charged with felony murder and. firstdegree child abuse. Those are very. specific charges, Josh, that don't. necessarily require an intent to kill,

right? I mean, this is a very specific. theory to convict him on when we talk. about felony murder and child abuse in. the first degree, right? >> Correct. So, um the underlying felony or. the predicate felony in this case was. was child abuse. Um, obviously in a. felony murder case, what that is saying. is not that there was premeditation or. there was an intent to kill, but that. someone died during the course of the. predicate felony. And it could be child. abuse, or it could be a um, you know, aggravated burglary, a carjacking,

arson. There's all kinds of predicate. felonies, uh, depending on what state. you're in. um that if someone dies. during the course of that felony and you. can prove that that felony um was. intentionally committed um then you can. be charged and convicted of felony. murder even if it was not your intent. for the person to die. So that is what. he was originally originally charged. with in the case. >> This story almost feels like a PSA, right? It is so important to shed a. light on this and I want to thank our.

sponsor Upside for their support in. helping us produce this episode for you. So Upside is great. It is a free app. that gets you cash back when you buy. daily essentials. Pump my gas, I can use. upside. Go out to lunch, I can use. upside. Maybe I get something at a. convenience store, I can use upside. And. why not get cash back when I do all. these things, right? This is real cash. back. It's money that appears in your. upside app that you transfer right into. your bank account. So once you have the. free Upside app, you claim an offer for. whatever you're buying on Upside. You. pay as usual using a debit or credit. card. You follow the steps on the app, you get paid. So, to find out how much.

you can earn, click the link in the. description to download Upside or scan. the QR code on screen. But make sure to. use our promo code Sidebar because. you'll get an extra 25 cents back on. every gallon on your first tank of gas. And by the way, a person they say is. guilty of child abuse in the first. degree if the person knowingly or. intentionally causes serious physical. harm or serious mental harm to a child. And as you said, felony murder is when. the child died during the commission of. that child abuse. Some people would say. felony murder is controversial, right? If someone dies during the course of a.

robbery or burglary, you know, is it. fair to have them on the hook for, you. know, felony murder? You might be able. to make that argument. Not when you're. dealing with child abuse. If you are. intentionally harming the child and they. die, you might not have intended for the. child to die, but yeah, you should be on. the hook for it, right? I mean, the. felony murder has gotten its share of. criticism or controversy in the past, particularly for defense attorneys, but. here makes sense. I think you're right. I think the, you know, one of the. criticisms of felony murders, especially.

when you have codefendants or you have. someone who is involved in a crime, but. let let's just say, uh, there was a. robbery going on, but, you know, the. defendant that we're particularly. talking about did not know that, you. know, anyone had a gun or did not there. was no plan that anyone was going to be. injured. It was supposed to just be, you. know, a simple robbery, but things went. wrong and someone ended up dying. Well, sometimes that can be a tough pill to. swallow that you're now guilty of of. first-degree murder, a felony murder, and looking at life in prison when um.

that had never been contemplated by the. parties involved, but because of the. law, criminal responsibility, you're. now, you know, you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound, and so you're. going down with everybody else. And so, for those reasons, I think there is a. lot of criticisms of um on felony murder. cases. But you're right, in a case like. this where you're talking about child. abuse, especially the facts of this. case, um it it's as as severe um and. probably as horrible of a beating as as. I've ever seen uh in reviewing cases.

>> Here's the thing. Before this case could. even go to trial, before a jury could. even hear it, maybe even a judge could. even hear it, this guy Hill and his. attorney, they reached a deal with the. prosecutor's office. So Hill would plead. guilty to seconddegree murder. Right. a. lesser charge and the felony murder and. the child abuse charges, they would be. dropped. And the guilty plea was. officially entered into the record on. July 21st and Hill was sentenced on. August 7th with the agreed upon.

punishment being. 18 to 40 years in prison. Now Josh, first of all, that means at a minimum he. has to serve 18 years before parole is. even a consideration. Right? I want to. make sure I'm understanding that. And if. I am, is that justice? Is that fair? >> Well, I guess it it uh everything's in. the eye of the beholder. Um I don't know. exactly how the statutes are or how. sentencings are calculated in Michigan. Um but in the jurisdictions I practiced.

in, yes, that means that you'd have to. serve that minimum period of time before. you'd be eligible for parole. And the. parole board would ultimately be. determining when that person could be. released. um which I think is why that. gives this 18 to 40 in the jurisdictions. I've practiced in there is a set number. so it's not uh it doesn't leave it up to. the parole board to make decisions on an. 18 to 40 for instance like as an example. someone would be sentenced just to 30. years and once they have reached um a. certain percentage of their sentence.

then they may be eligible to meet the. parole board but I guess in Michigan. they give this range of 18 to 40 and. leaves it to the parole board to decide. if that person has been sufficiently. rehabilit itated or they believe that he. has I guess reached the level that he. could return to society. Um so it's I. think Michigan's a little bit different. than a lot of other states as far as how. they calculate and how they do. sentencing. Now whether this is justice. or not obviously that kind of again goes. back to which side that you're on. You. know certainly the defense attorney it. seems did a very good job in this case.

in the negotiations. I don't know what. all of the ins and outs and how those. negotiations took place, but just for us. um looking looking at it from afar, it. looks like he certainly um reached a. good plea agreement for his client. >> Why would prosecutors agree to this? Is. that to spare the expense, time, and. heartache of a trial? >> I think sometimes that's certainly it. Um I don't know if there were, you know, some of those mitigating factors that. sometimes we don't know about depending. on what, you know, Mr. Hill's background.

had been or if you know um there was any. kind of mental health issues or or. basically what was what was in his. background that would cause the. prosecutor uh maybe to to feel like he. deserves some kind of a break. Um or. depending on what the rest of the. evidence was. You know, sometimes there. are issues that come up, legal issues, whether the police did something wrong, um whether evidence may get thrown out. for some reason, and then sometimes plea. agreements get reached. um so that both. sides can kind of um I guess take those.

things into consideration and try to. reach an agreement so that those don't. become issues in the court as far as. what evidence would be presented in a. trial. So it's hard to know what the. negotiations were since we weren't part. of it at all. But I would imagine that. there had to been some things like that. discussed. >> Now on the outside we can criticize it. right on the outside we can question it. We could say this is injustice. You. know, I don't know the ins and outs of. all the evidence like you said, but I. have to tell you there is an aspect of. it that is just so egregious. So, not.

only you're dealing with the death of. this young boy, right, and his life. taken away from him, taken away from his. family. Um, you have the person who. caused his death. But during the. sentencing hearing, Adrian's grandmother. and aunt spoke, and they reportedly. talked about how both Hill and Moss. wanted to keep up their image, driving. new cars, wearing expensive clothes, but. that Adrian and his siblings wore dirty. clothes and shoes that didn't fit right.

In fact, Adrian's aunt told the court, "They ate well, but the kids didn't. They dressed well. They rode in the best. car. I think they had the best of. everything, but the kids didn't." His. grandmother said it was premeditated, your honor. He is a monster. Whatever. time you give him, it's not enough. Now, Josh, a I go back to this point. 18 to. 40, is this justice? But also from a. larger perspective, how many times do. you see that, right? How many times do. you see a case where a child is abused,

but the parents are living well? It's. not like a money issue where they're all. starving and they can't, you know, earn. enough money or or have enough money to. feed everybody. That doesn't seem to be. what's going on here. It's not a money. issue, per se. Or you have another issue. where one child is abused, but the rest. of the children in the house are okay. They're fine. That dichotomy, that. discrepancy is always alarming to me. And again, why I say this makes it so. egregious. >> I think you're right. I think those are.

all those are things in child abuse. cases that kind of always baffle us and. you know sometimes the only thing that I. can come to wrap my head around is the. fact that those people don't think the. same way that we think right and if if. in fact those are correct it makes me. wonder if this person had some kind of. um you know maybe like lower functioning. or um had some kind of mental health. disorders himself. clearly they would. not think the way we would think and um. shouldn't have been parents, right? Which again, not to ever blame anyone. else who was not there to be the.

guardians, but when other family members. see things or people see things at. school, there's a reason that the law. makes people mandatory reporters. And. you know, I think everyone hopes that. people will speak up and say things when. they are alarmed. When you see an. eight-year-old kid that weighs 30ome. pounds or this kid has to go to school. and he's not um he's you know he's. malnourished or he's not fed or he's. wearing dirty clothes um but his parents. don't seem to be taking care of him or. his siblings, you hope that people will. reach out to children's services or to.

the police or whoever before these. things reach a level like they did in. this case. >> Talking about his statement or what he. was thinking or what he was doing. So. Adrian's death, as you can imagine, was. particularly devastating for the Tims. family because this was not the first. time his grandmother had to make an. identification at the morg. No. According to Fox 2 in Detroit, when. Adrian Jr. was just one years old, his. namesake, Adrian Tim Senior, was killed. Incredibly heartbreaking for this. family. Now, Hill himself also spoke in.

court and he said that he considered. this little boy, Adrian, to be his own. son. He seemed to blame the dirty. clothes on the kids just playing. outside, the bruises, that it wasn't. from abuse, but from that it was from. boxing lessons. Josh, that's problematic. to say the least. I mean, you can as a. criminal defense attorney, what is your. advice to clients who choose to speak at. sentencing? he pled guilty to what he.

did and now trying to explain other. reasons for these injuries. I'm not. quite getting that. >> No. And I think that's one of the things. that probably the um the least your. client can speak. It's usually the the. better for the for the defense attorney. And we try to um I guess counsel our. clients to keep things very minimal, keep them simple, and certainly not ever. try to minimize anything that you've. done, especially in a situation like. this where it looks like his attorney. was able to to reach a very favorable um.

plea agreement for him and you don't. want to mess that up and then the judge. says, "You know what? You're not re. accepting responsibility. I'm rejecting. this or I can't take this plea." Which. is, you know, the worst outcome that you. could ask for. So, I'm not exactly sure. what all he said in his sentencing, but. I but you're correct. I know the part. that that I at least have seen where the. judge talks about at the sentencing. hearing, he says, you know, >> well, I'll tell you what, let's talk. about it. So, Judge John Gillis, he. wasn't swayed by what Hill had to say.

In fact, he said, and you mentioned it. before, that this is one of the worst. cases he has ever had to deal with from. the bench. >> Well, Mr. Hill. Something I learned at a. real young age is actions speak a lot. louder than words. You might have some. nice words for us right now. But I saw the pictures. I saw what you. did to that child. And I won't say child, what you did to. Adrian, an 8-year-old boy. I don't know. how you could do that to someone that.

you claim you love. I see pictures all the time from. homicide cases, people with holes in. their head and their chest sitting in. puddles of blood. Watch videos of people. being stabbed, but these pictures were. the worst I've ever seen. That is an. 8-year-old child. Just to give everyone. a little idea, and I notice you talked. about the boxing, but you didn't give. any explanation to all those belt loop. marks all over his lower body. Maybe. even a hundred of them. I mean, that's.

how many his entire lower body was. covered in belt loops where you've. beaten him and as Miss Tim stated, even. in the growing area, what is wrong with you? How can you do. that? So, I agree with Miss Tims. I wish I. could sentence you to life. I think it's. welld deserved. But, as Mr. Wheeler pointed out, parties have reached an agreement and I. know they negotiated hard and I am going.

to respect the agreement that they've. reached and I am going to impose it. But I hope you take these next 18 to 40. years to really think long and hard. about what you did to Adrien Tims. So with that being said, Mr. Mr. Hill, you're going to be. sentenced to the Michigan Department of. Corrections for a period of 18 to 40. years. The following special conditions, you. must pay crime victim's assessment in. the amount of $130 is ordered by the.

court. You must pay a $68 state cost is ordered. by the court. and you must pay restitution in the. amount of $3,926. to the Michigan Department of Health and. Human Services. Last thing we will need from Mr. Hill is. for him to acknowledge and receipt of. his initials. I mean of his rights with. his initials and today's date.

[Applause]. And your honor, for purposes of the. record, we'll acknowledge receipt of the.

appalent rights my client has initial. dated before. >> All right. Thank you. Anything else. before we conclude Mr. Hill's matter? >> Nothing for the people, judge. Nothing. from defense, judge. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. We're very, very. sorry to Mr. Tim's family for your loss. >> Josh, again, your reaction to the. judge's comments there, >> right? Well, the when the judge. specifically was referencing the boxing,

he said, you know, I don't want to hear. anything about boxing. I saw the. pictures. These are the worst pictures. I've ever seen and all the homicides and. all the investigations I've had to look. at. Um, and this was belt loops, you. know, over a hundred belt loops all. across his body, his lower body, his. groin, you know, um, clearly taking. issue with the defendant trying to. minimize his involvement or or trying to. make an excuse for anything. Um, and I. think it kind of went back to what the. prosecutor was saying also about he and.

the mother in tandem beating on this kid. at the same time so that this kid really. had no chance of of ever surviving what. they were doing to him. No chance. No. chance. And you know, the judge, he. honored the plea deal, sentenced Hill to. 18 to 40 years in prison. We talked. about whether it was controversial, lenient, what have you. Hill's attorney, uh, Dennis Gary Whittle told the Detroit. News, "This is a tragic case where. discipline went too far." Hill knows he. cannot undo this horrible situation, but. wants people to know that he never.

intended to cause Adrian's death. His. acceptance of responsibility through his. plea of guilty is based on a reckless. disregard for the potential. consequences, but no specific intent to. cause harm or death to Adrian. He loves. all of his children and has profound. regret for what occurred to Adrian. Real. quick, what do you make of that. statement, Josh? >> Well, I think he was doing the best he. could to um trying to, I guess, make his. client statement sound a little bit. better and also explaining the. difference between first-degree murder.

and seconddegree murder. Obviously. first-degree murder, you know, we talk. about premeditation or someone's intent, but what makes it seconddegree murder in. in Michigan is the the reckless. disregard. And so I think he was using. that term um to kind of explain how the. plea agreement was reached and what he. was admitting that his client was was. criminal responsible for. Obviously, he. was in a very difficult position. You. know, like like we've talked about here. today, it is very difficult to defend. any of these actions when you have.

pictures like that. And it sounds like. it was not in dispute. Yeah. >> About who took part in this. Um but all. that being said, it looks like he. reached a very favorable plea agreement. for his client. So he should be, you. know, commended for that. I guess from. from my side of it, my perspective of. it. >> So let's talk about the other defendant. because at last check, Cantoria Moss. still facing charges of seconddegree. murder, lying to a peace officer in a. violent crime investigation. She was. scheduled for a competency evaluation. back in June. and her next court hearing. is scheduled for August 29th in the 36th.

District Court. Um, seconddegree murder. is interesting, right? Because we talk. about what does it mean under Michigan. law, I looked it up. It says, "All other. kinds of murder shall be murder of the. second degree, shall be punished by. imprisonment in the state prison for. life for any term of years and the. discretion of the court trying the. same." Uh, Josh, why was she charged. with seconddegree murder? What does that. say to you? And then I am curious,

right? If he is pleading guilty, does. that mean he's going to testify against. her? >> So I think she's charged with second. degree murder, which again makes me. think that the culpability and whatever. the evidence was points the finger much. strong much more strongly at him as. being responsible as opposed to her. It. sounds like she took part in it. So. under the theory of criminal. responsibility, she's just as guilty or. just as liable. But just the fact that. they're then also um getting a. competency evaluation kind of goes back. to we were talking before about you know.

wondering like mentally if these two. people were um you know low functioning. or they had some kind of mental health. issues um as well like which we we just. all assumed to be able to do something. like this to a child and treat a child. like this and all the factors we talked. about makes you wonder if there's if. there's something wrong with them. Um so. it sounds like that's what's going on. with her. I would be shocked that he. would be testifying against her. I don't. think that that would be a good move for. the prosecutor either. Um because that. would probably allow the prosecutor or.

excuse me, allow the defense even more. to try to point the finger at him and. show what a monster he is, which may be. the best defense um that she has. So, I. would be very surprised if if he was a. witness that the prosecutor wanted to. use. >> This is a heartbreaking case to say the. least. our um our prayers, our thoughts. with Adrian's family. There's really. nothing else to say about it. We will. see what happens with Kintori Moss. Uh. but this is, you know, this is one of.

the this is a closing of one piece of. the chapter of this story. Uh Josh. Corman, thank you so much for taking the. time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Have a good day. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].