A jury trial for the mother of three-year-old Amoura Smallwood, who was brutally beaten to death in February 2023, is currently scheduled to begin next month and will remain in Whitley County despite an attempt by the mother’s attorney to move to trial elsewhere.
Alexandra Ward, 22, faces charges of complicity to commit murder and complicity to commit first-degree strangulation in connection to Smallwood’s death.
Ward appeared in Whitley Circuit Court last Thursday for a pretrial conference, where the court ruled on several motions filed by her attorney, John Combs. Among the motions heard was for a change of venue, in which Combs asked that the court allow Ward’s jury trial be moved outside Whitley County.
Combs did not specify during last week’s proceedings where he would prefer the trial to be held, though the reasoning for the request was to help give Ward as fair a trial as possible, as media coverage of the case could potentially sway jurors. The motion was ultimately denied.
However, a motion to prevent juror research of the case was sustained.
Two other motions, one asking for individual juror voir dire and a juror questionnaire, were both denied. Voir dire is a process use by attorneys to poll jurors on a variety of questions as a means of determining if they can serve on a specific jury. That process is typically done with a pool of jurors all at one time. Combs request would have allowed each individual juror to be polled one at a time.
Ward’s jury trial is currently set to begin on March 25.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Ronnie Bowling has said he expects the trial to take at least two weeks.
Case History
Smallwood died on Feb. 19, 2023, after she was transported to Baptist Health Corbin around 3 p.m. by Whitley County EMS. When she arrived at the hospital, she was unresponsive and had multiple injuries.
According to previous court testimony, there were 20 injuries to the exterior of Smallwood’s head, 14 exterior injuries to her torso and 38 external injuries to her extremities. Among the injuries to her torso were anorectal lacerations and abrasions. Additionally, internal injuries included at least four brain bleeds.
Whitley County Coroner Andy Croley pronounced Smallwood dead just a couple of hours after her arrival at the hospital.
A final diagnosis autopsy report from the state medical examiner’s office stated that Smallwood’s cause and manner of death were due to blunt force injuries to the head and body due to non-accidental injuries.
On the day she died, Smallwood had allegedly been in the care of Ward’s then-boyfriend, Jordan Taylor, 24, of Corbin, since approximately 8:30 a.m.
During a May bond hearing for Ward, prosecutors presented a condensed version of the case against her, which also included texts, photos and videos allegedly sent and taken by Taylor.
Among the evidence shown during that hearing was photos of Smallwood with various bruises, marks and injuries that get progressively worse up until the time of her death. There were also threats allegedly sent to Ward by Taylor, such as one text that read, “I will leave this house a crime scene,” and others that were directed toward Smallwood, such as “I’m about to flip on her.”
A video allegedly taken from Taylor’s phone was also shown at the hearing, which depicted Smallwood being smothered by having her nose and mouth blocked by what appeared to be Taylor’s hand.
Taylor was arrested and charged in connection to Smallwood’s death. Ward was not arrested until she was indicted in April 2023, at which time prosecutors told the News Journal that there was “ample evidence” to charge her with complicity during an examination of her phone.
According to Ward’s indictment, she is accused of failing to make a proper effort in preventing Smallwood’s death.
During a bond hearing held last April for Ward, Bowling presented a condensed version of the case against her that appeared to be incriminating toward both her and Taylor. Based on that evidence, Bowling alleged that Ward was not only aware of Taylor’s abuse of Smallwood, but that she actively attempted to cover it up.
Taylor entered a guilty plea to his charges on Oct. 9, 2024. Taylor’s plea was contingent upon a deal with Bowling. That deal was extended by Taylor and his defense team, not Bowling. As part of that deal, Taylor received life without the possibility of parole in exchange for his plea. He was formally sentenced later that same month.
Ward currently remains jailed in the Whitley County Detention Center.
