In January of 2006, at the age of 16, Cody Posey stood trial for the murders of his father, step-mother, and step-sister that had taken place a year and a half before. He was being charged as a "youthful offender", which gave the judge the choice of sentencing him as a juvenile or an adult upon conviction.



Cody maintained composure at the start of his trial. It was when his defense lawyer gave his very emotional opening statement, and told the court of the tragic death of Cody's mothers in the car accident, that Cody broke down crying. The psychological torture, physical, and attempted sexual abuse of Cody by his father and step-mother became the core of his defense at trial.

Cody's claims of abuse were corroborated by the testimony of various witnesses to his father's cruel and abusive behaviour towards him. His former stepmother testified that while she was married to Paul Posey, she had to stop him from being mean and abusive towards his son on many occasions. Multiple ranch hands who worked under Paul's leadership testified to the abuse they had seen Cody subjected to at the hands of his father.



In addition, Cody took the stand in his own defense, and testified to the torture he had endured, the horror of what had occurred the night before, and the day he murdered his family. When he spoke of his father attempting to force him to have sex with his step-mother, he said "I felt dirty. I felt disgusted." He described how his father called him into the bedroom, and Tryone Posey was lying in bed naked, and his father told him he was going to have sex with her.



Posey spent two days on the stand testifying about the abuse, and what drove him to murder. When asked what was thinking when he killed them, he said "I don't know what I was thinking, I can't tell you. I myself wish I knew what I was thinking". He said he felt overwhelmed, and lost all control of his emotions at the time of the murders. He had reached a point of despair on that morning, his defense lawyers argued, and his judgment was impaired.

The prosecution presented witnesses that stated they had never seen a bruise or any sign of abuse whatsoever in regards to Cody. They had never seen his father act abusive, they said. They showed the jury the gruesome, bloody crime scene photos. They claimed that Cody allegations of abuse were just "more manure" piled on top of the bodies of the victims.

When the verdicts came back, Cody sobbed. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in the case of his step-sister Marilea, second-degree murder in the case of his step-mother Tryone, and voluntary manslaughter in the death of his father Paul. Many other members of Cody's family, who had stood by him during the trial, broke down and cried as well. His maternal aunt was so distraught she had to be carried out of the courtroom on a stretcher.

With pleas of leniency coming from Cody's family, as well as from the father of the step-sister, whom he had murdered, the judge chose to sentence Cody as a juvenile for the murders. Had he been sentenced as an adult, he would have been given life in prison. Instead, Cody was sentenced to psychiatric treatment, and to remain in a juvenile facility until he turned 21 years old. Jake Schmid, Marilea's father, said of the judge's decision, "Thank you. I do not believe that Marilea would have wanted Cody to be punished. He was already and she knew that."

He was committed to a juvenile facility on until April of 2010, when he was then transferred to a transitional rehabilitation facility. On October 9th, 2010, Cody Posey's 21st birthday, he was officially released, and is now living somewhere amongst society.

