Leilani Simon asks for new trial, is transferred to prison

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Following her sentencing to life in prison last Thursday, Leilani Simon’s defense team has filed an appeal in her case.

The defense filed a motion for a new trial on Sunday, saying that Simon’s guilty verdict didn’t have evidence to support it and that it was contrary to the evidence presented in court.

The prosecution did not present any forensic evidence that proved how Quinton Simon died or who killed him during Simon’s trial.

In the motion for a new trial, Simon’s defense lawyers are also asking that they be removed from the case and that someone who specializes in appeals be appointed to the case.

Simon, meanwhile, has been transferred to Arrendale State Prison in Alto, near Athens.

CSRA CONNECTION

Leilani Simon: Mom was a resident of Burke County

1. At the time of Quinton’s death, Leilani Simon was on probation out of Burke County over the burglary of $50 in coins. She said her child’s father had convinced her to enter a neighbor,’s camper and steal the money from a coin jar. He reportedly needed her to do it because he couldn’t fit through the window.
2. Leilani Simon juror speaks out on how murder verdict was reached
3. What do Leilani Simon’s neighbors think about guilty verdict?

She was spared the maximum punishment of life without a chance of parole. Her sentencing hearing in Chatham County Superior Court came a month after a trial jury found Simon guilty of malice murder and 18 other charges in the death of her son, Quinton Simon.

Simon called 911 the morning of Oct. 5, 2022, to report her son was missing from his indoor playpen at their home outside Savannah.

After police spent days searching the home and surrounding neighborhood, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said that investigators believed the child was dead. He also named Simon as the sole suspect.

Police and FBI agents focused their investigation on a landfill two weeks after the boy was reported missing. They sifted through trash for more than a month before finding human bones, which DNA tests confirmed belonged to Quinton.