Tuesday 3 November 2026
A Georgia mother is sentenced to 80 years for the years long torture of her 9 year old daughter
A Gwinnett County judge has sentenced Kristy Cooley of Lilburn, Georgia, to 80 years in prison, with 40 years to serve, after a jury convicted her of two counts of aggravated battery, eight counts of cruelty to children and two counts of tampering with evidence. Prosecutors said Cooley abused her middle daughter for years, in a pattern the district attorney's office called child torture. The girl, who is 9, was locked in her bedroom for days at a time, denied food and denied medical care. Photographs shown at trial showed her with a black eye at age 5 or 6. The girl's stepfather was also charged in the case and died before trial.
The sentence came down on Friday and was reported on Tuesday. Prosecutors told the jury the abuse ran for years and centered on one child in the house, the middle daughter. She was kept locked in her bedroom for days, food was withheld from her, and injuries and illnesses went untreated. The photographs of the child at 5 or 6 years old, with a black eye, were part of the evidence the jury weighed before convicting on all counts put to it.
Cooley will serve the first 40 years of the 80 year sentence in prison. The remaining years hang over any release. The stepfather's death before trial ended the case against him, so Cooley alone faced the jury for what happened inside the house in Lilburn.
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