A state appeals court has upheld the conviction and 30-year prison sentence for Meagan Work in the 2014 death of her 2-year-old son.
The Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals rejected Work's claim that the trial judge improperly allowed testimony about statements she had made to investigators because the 20-year-old pregnant woman had been falsely arrested and was repeatedly lied to by Cedar Park police regarding her legal rights.
The 3rd Court of Appeals once again Thursday ruled that Work's statements to investigators were legally obtained.
The court said that even if Work was not brought before a magistrate in a timely manner,
her statements could be used because she was read her Miranda rights before she was questioned by police.
Work, who initially claimed her 2-year-old son, Colton Turner, was missing before his body was discovered in a shallow grave in 2014, said in the appeal that she was nauseated and throwing up from pregnancy complications during the first 26 hours of questioning. She said that investigators failed to adequately address her personal and medical needs while she was being held.
Cedar Park police also repeatedly dismissed her questions regarding a lawyer, lied to her about the court system and delayed taking her to a magistrate for almost 75 hours, according to defense lawyers.
Work said the investigators caused her to become confused about her legal rights during questioning, in which she eventually admitted burying her dead son with the help of her now ex-boyfriend.
While Work's role in the death of her son will remain somewhat undefined because the autopsy of his decomposed body failed to provide concrete leads,
authorities do have a guess about how he died.
Travis County state District Judge David Wahlberg, who sentenced Work in 2018, said he believed the young mother was unable to control her emotions and slammed the child against a truck door, as noted by a man who testified that he witnessed the act as he unloaded his work truck in an industrial area on Cameron Road in Northeast Austin.
Work also didn’t take the child to a hospital for fear her abusive behavior would draw the attention of law enforcement, the judge said.
The sentence came as Work’s ex-boyfriend, Michael Turner, was serving 20 years in prison in connection with the case.