Arkansas prosecutors seek death penalty in killing of child

STAR CITY, Ark.  - Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for an Arkansas couple if they're found guilty of capital murder in the death of their child.

Kyle Hunter, the prosecuting attorney for Jefferson and Lincoln counties, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday that the "nature of this crime" penalty justifies the penalty.

Thirty-eight-year-old David Black and 30-year-old Mary Black were charged in June in the death of 11-year-old Joseph Carsello in Star City, about 60 miles southeast of Little Rock.

Prosecutors said the boy died of multiple blunt force trauma, including injuries to his head, and that the Blacks acknowledged hitting the boy in the face "with their hands for back-talking."

They say the couple reported the boy had fallen and hit his head on a toolbox.

The couple denied killing the boy.

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