Attorney General Steve Marshall announced on Tuesday that the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals had rejected the habeas corpus petition of Timothy Boyle, who was convicted of the capital murder of a child in 2010.
The jury that convicted Boyle in 2010 unanimously recommended the death penalty, which the trial court imposed following his conviction. Boyle has sought relief from the penalty over the years, but various courts have shot them all down.
Boyle was convicted of murdering two-year-old Savannah, the daughter of Mellissa White, whom he was dating at the time in 2025.
Witnesses in the case described a pattern of abuse Boyle inflicted on Savannah, including slamming her head against a car door when angered and burning her with cigarettes.
In October 2025, in the presence of Savannah’s five-year-old sister, Boyle slammed Savannah’s head against the bathtub wall and repeatedly held her underwater. Savannah cried throughout the night, and the following morning, Savannah’s sister was unable to wake her. Boyle eventually took Savannah to the emergency room, where he gave conflicting accounts of what had happened. On October 26, the day after her second birthday, Savannah was pronounced dead. The autopsy revealed that her brain had been so severely damaged that tissue had broken off and been forced into her spinal cord.
Boyle lost on direct appeal and in his state postconviction proceedings in 2018. The Middle District of Alabama also denied federal habeas relief in 2022. After the Eleventh Circuit’s decision, Boyle’s legal team will likely appeal to the Supreme Court.
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