Mother accused of killing son, putting his body in dumpster denied bond

CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - The Chatham County mother accused of killing her 20-month-old son and disposing of his body in a dumpster was denied bond on Thursday morning in court.

Leilani Simon is charged with felony murder in the death of her son, Quinton. She initially reported him missing in early October of 2022, and weeks later, his remains were found in a landfill.

The 19-count indictment says Leilani assaulted her son with an object resulting in serious injury, causing his death, and then placed his body in a dumpster.

The charges against her include one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, one count of concealment of the death of another and more than a dozen counts of making a false statements to police.

Simon has pleaded not guilty.

Simon’s attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss four of the counts of making false statements, as well as a motion claiming that prosecutors didn’t share enough information in the indictment to justify the three murder charges.

Since Quinton Simon disappeared in October, his story has gained national attention. Now, the defense is concerned about Simon getting a fair trial and the judge has agreed there will not be a livestream allowed.

However, as far as recording hearings to be played back later, Judge Stokes said she’ll make a ruling on that later.

This is the second time Simon has been denied bond. This is the first time that Leilani has been arraigned in Superior Court. When she was first arrested in November, she was arraigned in Recorders Court.

She did not get bond from Recorders Court at that first hearing because that lower level court is not allowed to give bond in felony cases.

This is the first time we’ve seen Leilani since her arrest back in November of 2022. Thursday, she was wearing a floral pattern shirt. She had her hair down and a mask covering most of her face.

She never actually spoke during this hearing, one of her public defenders did that for her.

Her defense team asked for Leilani to be granted bond, saying that she was not a risk to run away, pointing to the the fact that she lives in Chatham County and stayed here while she was under investigation.

They also said she was no risk of her committing any felonies while out on bond.

The state, however, disagreed. They didn’t say why they think Leilani might run away or commit other crimes out loud. Instead, prosecutors referenced documents they have sent to the judge.

Ultimately, Judge Stokes sided with prosecutors.

“In consideration of the information that been submitted from the defense and from the state. The court will deny bond based on the risk that she would commit a felony while on bond, and there is risk of flight as well. With that, bond is denied,” Judge Stokes said.

View a timeline of the case below:

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