GAINESVILLE, Ga. – A new round of motions in Jessica Motes’ death penalty case seeks limits on evidence, changes to jury procedures and rulings against capital punishment as the first anniversary of 4-year-old Autumn Fox’s death approaches.
October docket entries reviewed by Now Georgia show 60 motion filings dated Oct. 5–8, covering 59 distinct motions. A challenge involving victim-impact evidence appears in both the original and amended versions.
One year since Autumn Fox died
This month marks one year since Autumn’s death in October 2025. As Now Georgia previously reported, authorities discovered her body Oct. 26, 2025, in the trunk of Motes’ Nissan Sentra in the Sam’s Club parking lot in Oakwood.
Prosecutors allege Autumn suffered blunt-force injuries, a broken arm and exposure to fentanyl, methamphetamine and xylazine. Motes faces charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, first-degree cruelty to children and concealing the death of another. She pleaded not guilty July 8. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The October filings follow an Oct. 1 docket entry listing an order denying the defense’s original and amended requests to dismiss the indictment, the formal charging document. That order is separate from the new motions.
A motion asks the judge to decide an issue. Filing one does not mean the request has been granted.
Evidence and witness testimony
Several motions concern access to evidence. They seek permission to inspect and test physical evidence, obtain medical and toxicology reports, review scientific and expert findings, and learn about electronic surveillance. Others request information favorable to Motes, witness identities and criminal histories, and records of grand jury proceedings.
One motion asks the court to exclude Motes’ statements at trial and hold a hearing to determine whether they were voluntary. Another preserves the defense’s ability to challenge physical evidence on constitutional grounds.
The defense also seeks to exclude graphic photographs or videos of Autumn, limit evidence of other alleged wrongdoing, and prevent improper use of hearsay, or secondhand statements. Another motion seeks limits on prosecutors’ closing arguments.
Witness-related requests include keeping witnesses from discussing testimony with one another and appointing an impartial witness monitor. One asks the judge to bar jailhouse informants from testifying or, alternatively, warn jurors to treat that testimony cautiously.
Selecting and protecting the jury
A substantial portion concerns jury selection. Requests seek a pool reflecting the community, individual questioning of prospective jurors, records of their race, gender, and ethnicity, and disclosure of relationships with prosecutors. The defense also wants to exclude prospective jurors who knew Autumn or her family.
Other requests would allow lawyers to challenge prospective jurors outside the panel’s presence, provide more preparation time and explain the process for a potential death penalty trial. One seeks limits on follow-up questioning intended to qualify jurors whose answers raise concerns about their ability to consider the available sentences.
One motion requests compensation at jurors’ current wages and reimbursement for caregivers’ day care costs. Others seek jury bailiffs who are not law enforcement personnel, limits on juror-bailiff conversations and protection from outside contact or emotional displays involving relatives, friends or witnesses.
Challenges to the death penalty
Several motions directly challenge capital punishment. They ask the court to declare Georgia’s death penalty laws unconstitutional or bar execution based on changing standards of decency. Another challenges whether the law requires jurors to find all necessary facts beyond a reasonable doubt before imposing death.
Related requests challenge victim-impact evidence, which addresses how a death affected others. They seek advance disclosure, a hearing, and removal of language the defense considers inflammatory or unfairly prejudicial. Another asks that jurors give proper consideration to mitigating circumstances — factors offered in support of a sentence less severe than death.
Trial preparations and schedule
Remaining requests address daily transcripts, or written records of proceedings; preserving jurors’ notes; possible conflicts involving court officials; courtroom procedures; and parts of the capital-case appeal process. Others concern evidence-sharing deadlines and the ability to file additional motions. One asks the court to specially schedule the jury trial.
Motes’ jury trial is currently scheduled for June 21, 2027.
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