Leilani Simon cried after being found guilty on all counts by a jury in Georgia on Friday.

Simon was accused of killing her 20-month-old son Quinton Simon in 2022. She is said to have attacked him with an unknown object and disposed of the body in a trash can.

Officials spent 30 days searching through 1.2 million pounds of trash before finding what appeared to be human remains at the Chatham County landfill.

Simon was convicted of 19 counts, including premeditated murder, aggravated murder, concealing the death of another, false report of a crime and making a false statement. Her sentence will be determined at a later date.

The jury was sent to deliberate after closing arguments concluded Thursday. They deliberated for two hours before being excused for the night. The verdict was announced shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

Prosecutors presented videos of Simon’s alleged false statements, cell phone records and police body camera footage to law enforcement during their closing argument.

“She might be calculating, she might be manipulative, but she’s not necessarily that smart,” said Tim Dean, special assistant district attorney and assistant U.S. attorney for Chatham County. “She doesn’t understand that when a child goes missing, all stops are pulled out. She seriously underestimated and failed to understand the capabilities of people like the Chatham County Police Department.”

Defense attorney Martin Hilliard said prosecutors failed to prove their case.

“We said at the outset that most, if not all, of the state’s cases were based on speculation and character assassination,” Hilliard said. “And we sat here for an hour and 28 minutes listening to Mr. Dean say exactly that.”

Chatham County Assistant District Attorney Jenny Parker rebutted the defense’s argument.

“Leilani Simon is not a mother, she is a monster,” Parker said.

Jury selection in the trial began on October 9th and opening statements began on October 14th.

Dean highlighted Simon’s allegedly false statements in his opening statement.

“She told a series of ever-evolving lies over several weeks, just moving from one lie to the next,” Dean said.

He said her “biggest priority in life” at the time was her then-boyfriend Daniel Youngkin, who is not Quinton’s biological father.

Defense attorney Robert Persse, in his opening statement, urged jurors to make a decision based on the evidence presented and not on emotion.

“This case cannot be decided based on emotions,” Persse said. “It must be decided based on the facts and evidence presented in this courtroom. It cannot be decided by their rumors, their gossip and their conclusions. In the end you will find that this is the basis of the claims of the state.”

The state rested its case Wednesday after calling 36 witnesses. The defense called no witnesses and Simon declined to testify.

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