Defense lawyers for 20-year-old Lisa Smith and 26-year-old Kieff King argued for a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, saying Smith and King were just trying to discipline her son Tahjir.
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Smith's lawyer, Carrie Allman, told jurors that, while it's easy to view Smith and King as monsters, they never imagined hitting the boy with a flip-flop could cause his death, and there was never the intent to kill, which would make this murder.
But prosecutor Ed McCann pointed to what had been years of abuse of the boy, including multiple broken ribs and whippings with a belt that left scars.
"The analogy I gave to the jury was if you throw pebbles at a window long enough, ultimately you're going to break it. And if you keep throwing the pebbles, that shows you what the intent is," McCann said.
Smith and King will be sentenced at a later date, but first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence.