James Alexander Hurley was the 12-year-old boy that was found dead in his grandparents’ home in West Yellowstone on February 3, 2020. Five people in total have been charged, and the final person to get their day in court is his grandmother, Patricia Batts.
Patricia Batts, the grandmother of Alex Hurley, is facing five felonies surrounding the death of her grandson and is scheduled for a change of plea hearing Friday, May 26.
As of May 25, Batts has pled not guilty to aggravated kidnapping, criminal child endangerment, strangulation of a partner or family member, deliberate homicide, and tampering with a witness or informant.
“She needs to get on with her sentence,” Alex Hurley’s mother, Alicia Davis said. “I want her to spend many, many years sitting behind bars without her family, without anybody, realizing that she lost everything and everybody because of her poor decisions.”
Alicia Davis reflects on the day that she received the call that her son had been killed.
“It was just—it was a few days of steady shock, I mean because the phone calls kept coming on what had happened to him, what the coroner was saying, what detectives were thinking,” Davis said.
When talking about Alex, Davis hopes that his legacy revolves around two words: Loving and caring.
“When I would go grocery shopping, he would stop and help the little old ladies pick something off the shelves and put it in their buggy for them,” Davis said.
MTN will update this story following the change of plea hearing.
Related:
Three facing homicide charges in death of West Yellowstone boy
“Systematic torture,” Sheriff, friends weigh in on West Yellowstone boy’s death
Grandmother of slain West Yellowstone boy pleads not guilty to additional chargesInvestigators: videos of James Alex Hurley, 12, appearing being tortured by members of his extended family before his death
West Yellowstone man sentenced to 100 years behind bars in connection to grandson’s death
Gallatin County attorney won't seek death penalty in West Yellowstone homicide case
