A Dinwiddie County jury seemed to have little doubt yesterday about the guilt of a mother accused of drugging and stabbing to death her young son in the family’s bathtub in 2006. After a two-day trial that included testimony from 20 witnesses, the jurors deliberated a little more than an hour before convicting Julie E. Futrell of first-degree murder in the Thanksgiving slaying of 6-year-old Shawn A. Futrell.

Henrico County prosecutors gained a second conviction yesterday in a years-long sexual-abuse case involving two sisters and their father and brother. The 24-year-old brother pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery of a minor, his now 13-year-old sister. Circuit Judge Gary Hicks gave him a three-year suspended sentence and ordered him released from jail yesterday; he had been incarcerated since Sept. 1.

Henrico County prosecutors gained a second conviction this morning in a yearslong sexual-abuse case involving two sisters and their father and brother. The 24-year-old brother pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery of a minor, his now 13-year-old sister. Circuit Judge Gary Hicks gave him a three-year suspended sentence and ordered him released from jail today; he had been incarcerated since Sept. 1.