Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990                   TAG: 9007310276
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: FORT MYERS, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

STEPFATHER CONVICTED IN POTTY-TRAINING DEATH

The case forced reforms in the way Florida protects children considered at risk of child abuse.

It took jurors less than two hours of deliberation to convict Thomas Coe of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

Circuit Judge Randall McDonald ordered the jury to reconvene Wednesday to decide if Coe should be sentenced to life in prison or death in the electric chair.

Coe, 23, testified last week that he "was out of control" July 27, 1989, when he dunked his 2-year-old stepson, Bradley McGee, into the toilet as punishment for soiling his pants. The boy died the next day of massive injuries.

- Associated Press