A state appeals court Wednesday upheld the conviction of a man who was sentenced to life in prison in the beating death of a 2-year-old boy in Duval County.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected arguments that it should overturn the second-degree murder conviction of Nicholas Rivet, now 40, in the 2010 death of Eddie Robb.
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Rivet, who was a member of the U.S. Navy, lived with the child’s mother, Brandi Robb, near Naval Station Mayport, Wednesday’s nine-page ruling said.
The child had suffered numerous injuries, including a fatal head injury.
Three years passed without an arrest, with Rivet and Brandi Robb blaming each other for the death. Prosecutors ultimately charged Rivet, who was convicted during a jury trial.
In the appeal, Rivet argued, in part, that he should have been acquitted because the only evidence was circumstantial.
“Rivet’s theory of events -- both below (in the trial) and on appeal -- is that Robb committed the crime,” said Wednesday’s ruling by appeals-court judges Timothy Osterhaus, Harvey Jay and Allen Winsor.
“Indeed, his position all along was that there were only two people who could have killed Eddie, and his counsel argued throughout trial that it must have been Robb. So the question is whether the state put on evidence disproving that theory. It did. It put on Robb herself, who unequivocally testified that she did not harm the child. The jury was entitled to believe Robb’s testimony, and it apparently did.”