FAIRBURN, GA — A Fairburn babysitter convicted of murdering a boy three days before his first birthday appeals to the state supreme court.

Maria Owens says a Fulton County judge gave her jury the wrong instructions at her trial for 2011’s death of Jaylen Kelly.

Prosecutors believe money stress caused her to abuse the boy less than an hour after his parents told Owens they would be moving him to a licensed daycare.

Her lawyer, Kyle Winchester, essentially says the jury was told they couldn’t consider whether Owens might have fractured the infant’s back by accident.

“That creates a different punishment than what she has now, which is, life in prison,” Winchester said.

Owens claimed she only hit the boy to help with his bronchitis cough.