A 28-year-old Victoria man is set to appear in Lunenburg Circuit Court for a jury trial scheduled for Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder, malicious injury and child abuse: serious injury.

The charges against Mario Davis stem from his arrest in June for allegedly killing his 16-month-old stepdaughter.

Davis was indicted on the charges in February.

A call was made to police on June 9 reporting the child had fallen down the stairs. When ambulances arrived, they found the girl — Aja Cofield — unresponsive, Lunenburg County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Clement said in June.

She was kept on life support until she died days later.

A report later concluded the injuries to the child were not consistent with a fall down the stairs, but with severe head trauma.

The trial is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.

Davis was detained at the hospital before Cofield’s death on June 11.

Authorities said Davis was transported back to Lunenburg where he was “… served with the felony warrant at 4:30 p.m. on a class 2 felony of aggravated malicious bodily injury.”

Davis was later charged with first degree murder and child abuse: serious injury, according to Lunenburg Circuit Court.

According to Clement, Davis could face 20 years to life in prison if convicted of the charges.

“Initial investigation by (authorities) and the Department of Social Services has revealed that Davis and a three-month-old baby were the only other persons in the home at the time, and that the medical opinion is that the injuries to the child are not consistent with a fall down the stairway, but consistent with abusive head trauma,” Clement said at the time of the alleged incident.

An autopsy was conducted by the State Medical Examiner’s Office.

The child’s mother, Marrisa Cofield, was said to be at work at a retail store in South Hill at the time of the incident, Clement said.

Following the incident, Cofield was taken to Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill, and quickly airlifted to VCU Medical Center in Richmond.