Claims of past abuse allowed to be entered in case of slain Houma toddler Ezekiel Harry
William Brown
Updated on March 25, 2026
HOUMA, La. (WVUE) - Tentative trial dates have been set for the mother of Ezekiel Harry, the 2-year-old beaten to death in Houma in July 2022, and for her live-in boyfriend who had a history of drugs and child abuse.
Harry’s body was found stuffed in a city trash can on July 12, 2022, with the coroner determining the toddler died of severe blunt force trauma to the head.
Sources confirm to Fox 8 tentative trial dates were set for Maya Jones, Harry’s biological mother, as well as Jermaine Robinson, the live-in boyfriend. Jones is set to go to trial in July 2024, while Robinson is set to go to trial in August 2024.
Each faces charges of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
Sources said that in a recent hearing, statements from Jones’ other children were allowed into evidence over the objections of Jones’ defense attorney.
Those statements show the home Jones was living in was provided by The Haven, a nonprofit serving domestic abuse victims in Terrebonne, Lafourche and Ascension parishes.
Jones’ surviving children gave statements alleging ongoing abuse in Jones’ home, saying they were locked in their rooms and sometimes forced to use the bathroom in buckets.
Jones and Robinson face the death penalty, and recently had their cases severed, meaning they will not stand trial together.
Robinson, 36, was in and out of the Lafourche Parish criminal justice system, facing a 2017 charge of distribution of drugs and a 2009 charge of second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. Robinson pled guilty to both charges.
In Terrebonne Parish, Robinson was arrested in 2005 for a hit and run, and in 2006 pled guilty. He also faced 2016 felony charges of armed robbery, but accepted a plea deal for simple robbery and was sentenced to nine months with credit for time served.
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