BABY GRACE - Riley Ann Sawyer

[Nut44x4]

I can't believe I didn't see that be4 today 

[Nut44x4]

Mother of girl found in sea off Texas gives birth
By Associated Press
10:19 PM EDT, June 28, 2008
GALVESTON, Texas - The mother of a toddler known as "Baby Grace" after her body was found in the sea off Texas has given birth to another child.

Maj. Mike Henson at the Galveston County jail says 19-year-old Kimberly Dawn Trenor gave birth Thursday at a hospital.

The boy was immediately taken from her and was to be adopted. Trenor was returned to jail Friday.

Trenor and her husband are accused of beating Riley Ann Sawyers to death in July in their home. The girl's remains were found in October in a plastic container in Galveston Bay.

Trenor and Royce Clyde Zeigler II were arrested in November. Trenor says a disciplinary session got out of control. Zeigler's attorney denies that account.



http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-childs-remains,0,5767644.story

[mishy]

This is just so tragic and heartbreaking. That beautiful little bitty girl abused and tortured like that...I am grateful she is now at peace and no longer subject to such unspeakable cruelty. And I'm grateful that this new baby will never know the likes of either of his parents, and I pray that he is adopted by loving, caring, and nurturing parents....

[Nut44x4]

Brother of 'Baby Grace' going to new homeThursday, July 03, 2008 | 9:15 AM

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The brother of the girl known as 'Baby Grace' is heading to a new home later this morning.
Kimberly Trenor gave birth to a son, Shawn, last week. Trenor and her husband, Royce Zeigler are in jail, charged with capital murder in the death of Trenor's daughter, Riley Ann, who became known as "Baby Grace."
After conducting a home study, CPS awarded custody of Shawn to Trenor's aunt and uncle in Dallas. The baby will be placed with them when he's released from mainland medical center today
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6243255

[Nut44x4]

July 3, 2008, 1:03AM
Trenor's relatives approved to be baby's foster parents

A Dallas-area couple was approved Wednesday as foster parents for the newborn son of an Ohio woman accused of killing her toddler daughter and throwing the girl's body into Galveston Bay.

Shawn Michael Trenor, born June 26, will be taken from the Galveston hospital where he was born to the couple's home on Thursday, said Estella Olguin, spokesman for Texas Child Protective Services.

The boy's mother is 19-year-old Kimberly Dawn Trenor, who along with her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 25, is charged with capital murder in the death of Trenor's daughter, 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers.

The girl's body was found in Galveston Bay, and she was widely known as "Baby Grace" before being identified.

The couple — Trenor's aunt and uncle — notified CPS that they wanted to adopt the boy.

The state-required "home study" of the couple came back without incident, and the process of placing the child with them begins on Thursday, Olguin said.

"They want to adopt him," Olguin said. "They understand it's long-term."

Trenor and Zeigler remain in the Galveston County Jail. Their trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 3.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/5869120.html

[katiekatie2u]

 


Mrs. Red


I  too am so upset about the abuse this beautiful innocent little girl suffered at the hands of her own mother and the deranged boyfriend..(SEEMS THE MOTHER WAS JUST AS DERANGED TO ALLOW IT SHE PARTICIPATED)

oviously it was permitted by the mother... these punk asses!! mentaly and physicaly tortured this child ..

it hurt to see her little shoe.. if they didnt want the little girl than why in hell didnt these punk ass cowards  just hand her over to the grandmother or someone that would love and care for her....

her short life knew not much of love... but more of torture.... and abuse....I hope her death was quick ... I would hate to think she lingered on in pain...

this makes me so angry.... these idiotic  women meet men online that aint worth chit ... and bring them home to their children... like in the case of the brooke in verment...

sad sad sad.... makes my blood boil... they need to face someone their own size and get their asses kicked... they need a good ass whipping... burn em like bacon at the electric chair... its not cruel and unjust its fair for the crimes they commit.....


children are to be loved and nurtured.. so many childless coupless would have loved the opportunity to care for such children.. they deprived the child of hapiness....

I dont know what else to say other that its just sad and cruel...

may she rest in peace with the angels


katie

[Nut44x4]

'Baby Grace' to be remembered in Galveston on 1-year anniversary of her death

08:00 AM CDT on Thursday, July 24, 2008

GALVESTON, Texas -- Thursday marks the one-year anniversary since Riley Ann Sawyers – known to many as “Baby Grace” – was beaten to death, allegedly by her stepfather and mother.

Her body was found a few months later on a tiny island in Galveston Bay.

A dedication ceremony is planned for Thursday night in Galveston to honor the slain child.

The city will dedicate a Baby Grace memorial bench in Menard Park near the seawall.

Sawyers’ grandmother said she hopes the bench will honor the little girl’s memory, but also remind people to be aware of the dangers of child abuse.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/crime/stories/khou080724_tnt_babygrace.87cd5afd.html

[Nut44x4]

Mother of baby found dead in Texas bay enters plea
 
Associated Press - January 21, 2009 9:03 AM ET

HOUSTON (AP) - A woman accused with her husband of beating their 2-year-old daughter to death and putting the body in a box in Galveston Bay near Houston has pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence but not guilty to capital murder.

Texas authorities say 20-year-old Kimberly Dawn Trenor and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, beat Riley Ann Sawyers to death in July 2007. The girl was known as Baby Grace until she was identified.

A fisherman found Riley's body in a box that washed up on shore on island in the bay. Authorities allege Trenor said they hid the body for two months before dumping it into the bay.

Trenor entered her pleas Tuesday. Jury selection for her trial is set to begin Wednesday.

Zeigler's trial date has not been set.
http://www.wbay.com/global/story.asp?s=9707243

[MuffyBee]

Baby Grace's mom pleads innocent to capital murder charges

07:51 AM CST on Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Associated Press

HOUSTON -- A woman accused in the beating death of her 2-year-old daughter, widely known as “Baby Grace,” has pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence but innocent of capital murder charges a day before her trial begins.
 Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 20, and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 25, are accused of beating Riley Ann Sawyers to death July 25, 2007 in their Spring home. Trenor told police the child died after a disciplinary session veered out of control. Trenor and Zeigler are each charged with capital murder and tampering with physical evidence.

Trenor was arraigned Tuesday before Galveston County District Judge David Garner before the jury selection process begins. She gave birth to Shawn Trenor on June 26 at Mainland Medical Center while in custody. The baby was immediately taken from her and given to Child Protective Services. The child was turned over to the mother’s distant relatives in Dallas.

Riley’s body was found in a box washed up on the shore of an island in Galveston Bay. Trenor said the couple hid the body in a shed for two months before dumping it in Galveston Bay where a fisherman later found the body inside a box. The West Galveston Bay island where the body was found has been officially named Riley’s Island.

Trenor and Zeigler remain in the Galveston County Jail in lieu of $850,000 bail each. Zeigler is being tried separately and his trial date has not been set.

Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk and Assistant District Attorney Kayla Allen will prosecute Trenor.

Defense attorney Tommy Stickler, referring to the extensive videotaped statements and signed affidavits that Trenor gave to sheriff’s investigators after her arrest, said “It’s about as factually an open case as you are going to get,” in a story for Tuesday’s online edition of the Houston Chronicle.

One of Zeigler’s attorneys, Neal Davis III, said he will be watching the trial closely. Davis has questioned Trenor’s version of events.

If convicted of evidence tampering, Trenor faces a penalty of from two to 20 years in prison.

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/012109kvue_baby-grace-trial-eh.160d5f3c.html

[MuffyBee]

'Baby Grace' mom pleads guilty to evidence-tampering
Hundreds of jury candidates come to Galveston courthouse today for selection process
By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 21, 2009, 2:11PM
GALVESTON — The jury selection process went more quickly than was expected today for the capital murder trial of a woman accused in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, who was widely known as Baby Grace until her body was identified.

Galveston County District Judge David Garner chose 150 jurors who said they could be impartial during the trial of Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 20, of Spring, who is accused of joining her husband in a brutal disciplinary session that ended in the death of Riley Ann Sawyers on July 25, 2007.

Garner had summoned about 1,200 prospective jurors who were to be questioned in groups of about 250 over three days. He was concerned that choosing a jury would be difficult because of widespread publicity about Riley’s death and the arrest of her mother and stepfather.

The judge also was concerned that so many Galveston County residents had been displaced by Hurricane Ike that many might not receive the summons to jury duty.

But Garner was able to find 150 prospective jurors by noon out of the first group of about 250 who said they would consider Trenor innocent unless the prosecution proves her guilt.

The 150 will be questioned by attorneys on Monday, and 12 will be chosen as jurors and two as alternates.

The trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Trenor pleaded guilty on Tuesday to tampering with evidence, but innocent to the capital murder charge.

The 20-year-old Spring woman was arraigned on Tuesday in Garner's court.

Trenor and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 25, are accused of holding Riley’s head under bath water, pushing her face into a pillow and beating her with a belt. Trenor told police that Zeigler hurled Riley onto a tile floor.

They placed several plastic bags over the body and stuffed the child into a small plastic box that they kept in a rented storage room for up to two months.

Trenor told police that Zeigler first tried to bury the box but eventually tossed it off the Galveston Causeway. A fisherman discovered the box on Oct. 29, 2007, on an island in West Galveston Bay.

A cross has since been erected on the island, which was named Riley’s Island in her honor.

The jury also will sentence Trenor on the evidence tampering charge, which carries a penalty of from two to 20 years in prison.

Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk will not seek the death penalty for the capital murder charge.

Zeigler is being tried separately on the same charges. His trial date has not been set. Both are being held in the Galveston County Jail in lieu of $850,000 bail each.

Sistrunk and Assistant District Attorney Kayla Allen will prosecute Trenor, who will be defended by attorney Tommy Stickler.

Stickler said he expected the trial to move quickly.

“It’s about as factually an open case as you are going to get,” he said, referring to the extensive videotaped statements and signed affidavits that Trenor gave to sheriff’s investigators after her arrest.

One of Zeigler’s attorneys, Neal Davis III, said he will watch the trial closely. Davis has questioned Trenor’s version of events.

Trenor became pregnant with Riley when she was 16 and moved in with the father, Robert Sawyers, and his family in Mentor, Ohio, although they did not marry.

Trenor became obsessed with an online game called “World of Warcraft” and met Zeigler, another gamer. Meanwhile, Sawyers’mother, Cheryl Sawyers, provided for Riley.

Zeigler wooed Trenor over the Internet and they were married June 1, 2007, without telling Sawyer or his mother. While Trenor and Sawyer fought for custody rights, she and Riley moved in with Zeigler at his Spring residence.

Cheryl Sawyer notified sheriff’s investigators after seeing an artist’s rendering of how Riley looked before her decomposed body was found.

The couple were arrested in Spring and the case was transferred from Harris County to Galveston County at Sistrunk’s request.

Trenor gave birth to a son, Shawn, on June 26. He was turned over to the mother’s distant relatives in Dallas.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6221949.html

[islandmonkey]

O/T~

This is snipped from  Foxnews article that was talking about the Riley Ann Sawyer murder, and the trial supposed to start this week. Anyway, it references Tim Miller and his help in the investigation, and what he did afterwards, his compassion and love for others NEVER ceases to amaze me:

The island where the toddler's body was found was officially renamed "Riley's Island." A wooden cross bearing a plaque with her name was placed there as a memorial, but Hurricane Ike washed it away on Sept. 13.

Miller, who made that cross, said he is making a new one and hopes that he and Riley's family can place it on the island at the end of Trenor's trial.

"It's sad the cross is gone. But as much damage as the hurricane did, I was afraid the whole island would be wiped away," he said. "God did not want that to happen. The cross will be put there again in her honor."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482742,00.html

Crap~forgot the photo of the cross Tim made for Riley

BUMP~

Here is my earlier post with larger photos....

[Nut44x4]

Jan 25, 1:13 PM EST

Trial starts in Texas for mother of beaten toddler whose body was thrown into Galveston Bay

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- Even the most grizzled investigators were reduced to tears by the disturbing details of the death of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers.

The tot's already decomposed remains had been stuffed into a plastic container that was dumped into Galveston Bay. A fisherman found the container and its contents on a tiny island about a mile from the shore of the huge bay in October 2007.

On Monday, jury selection is set to begin for the capital murder trial of Riley Ann's mother, 20-year-old Kimberly Dawn Trenor. She and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, are accused of beating the toddler to death in July 2007.

After the gruesome discovery in Galveston Bay, the toddler was dubbed "Baby Grace" until authorities were able to identify the tiny remains as Riley Ann.

"I saw a lot of real tears from a lot of old-time, seasoned detectives who took this home with them every night," said Tim Miller, director of Texas EquuSearch, a volunteer search organization that helped in the investigation.

That community reaction could easily complicate the task of choosing jurors.

Trenor told police the beating began during a discipline session when Riley Ann forgot to say "please" and "yes, sir" to Zeigler, her stepfather.

According to an arrest affidavit, Trenor said she and Zeigler used two leather belts to beat Riley and also held her head under water. But she claims it was Zeigler who grabbed Riley by her hair and flung her across a room onto a tile floor, fracturing her skull in three places and killing her, an autopsy concluded.

Authorities said the couple hid the little girl's body for a month or two in a storage shed at their home in Spring, a northern Houston suburb, before dumping it in the bay 70 miles away.

The break in the case came when Sheryl Sawyers called authorities from her home in Mentor, Ohio, saying she had seen an artist's sketch of the unidentified little girl and believed it was her granddaughter, Riley.

Trenor had moved to Texas with Riley from Mentor, a Cleveland suburb, in June 2007 to be with Zeigler, whom she met playing the online game World of Warcraft.

Sheryl Sawyers is scheduled to testify at the trial.

Last week, Trenor pleaded guilty to a charge of evidence tampering and will be sentenced for that after her murder trial.

"It is a small relief to hear Ms. Trenor is taking some responsibility for her role in this tragedy," said Laura DePledge, an attorney for the Sawyers family, referring to Trenor's admission that she tampered with evidence. "Most of the shock having passed, the family has been focused on dealing with their loss. The onset of trial, however, will force them to relive the trauma and expose them to extraordinary pain again."

If convicted, Trenor faces up to life in prison without parole. The jury could also convict her of a lesser charge. Zeigler, 25, will be tried later.

"The charges against her are she intentionally killed her daughter and we contend that is not what happened," said Trenor's attorney, Tommy Stickler Jr.

Zeigler's attorney, Neal Davis III, points the finger at Trenor.

"Royce didn't kill, didn't murder Riley," Davis said. "I think her trial will hopefully refute some of her story."

Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk declined to comment about the case before the trial starts.

Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty against either defendant because they didn't think they could prove that the pair would be a future danger, a requirement for such a punishment. Trenor and Zeigler remain in the Galveston County Jail in lieu of $850,000 bail each.

Last June, Trenor gave birth to a boy, Shawn, while awaiting trial. She relinquished her parental rights and the boy is living with distant relatives in the Dallas area. Zeigler has not relinquished his parental rights, child welfare officials said.

Riley's killing and the investigation generated intense media coverage and Galveston County District Judge David Garner tried to weed out people in the initial jury pool who already had made up their minds about the case.

"The infection of the publicity in the case will make it very difficult for anyone to be fair and impartial," said Joel Androphy, a Houston attorney not connected to the case.

Androphy also said Trenor's case is hampered by the fact that people generally want to punish someone for a child's death.

"That gives the prosecution a tremendous advantage," he said.

The island where the toddler's body was found was officially renamed "Riley's Island." A wooden cross bearing a plaque with her name was placed there as a memorial, but Hurricane Ike washed it away on Sept. 13.

Miller, who made that cross, said he is making a new one and hopes that he and Riley's family can place it on the island at the end of Trenor's trial.

"It's sad the cross is gone. But as much damage as the hurricane did, I was afraid the whole island would be wiped away," he said. "God did not want that to happen. The cross will be put there again in her honor."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHILDS_REMAINS_TRIAL?SITE=AZTUC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[seascapejb]

This made my jaw drop and my stomach churn:

http://news-herald.com/articles/2009/01/28/news/doc497f52ac4f6b9874855198.txt

The toddler who came to be known as Baby Grace tried to stop her mother and stepfather from beating her to death by reaching out to her mother and saying, “I love you,” a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday in the mother’s capital murder trial.




How could someone do such a thing? This case is sooo sad.

[JustMeT]

I hope they both get their asses killed in prison. They are lucky being in Texas that they are not facing being killed by the state.
I know of a few prisoners with absolutely nothing to lose that would love to find these two animals roaming with in state prison walls. Makes me so angry I wish the state would just let us the mothers of the world get our hands on these two.

[osucowboy]

This case makes me sick.  I have a four-year-old granddaughter and to think of her in the place of an abused or murdered child makes me want to scream.  What is wrong with these people?  How can anyone believe this behavior is appropriate?  The death penalty is too good for anyone who kills a child.  IMO

[Nut44x4]

Police Say Mom, Stepfather Made Behavior List for 'Baby Grace' 
 
Last Edited: Thursday, 29 Jan 2009, 10:44 AM EST 
01/29/2009  -- 
It was a list of nine things that 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers' mother and stepfather wanted to teach the toddler born in Ohio to help her behave better.

The list, called "Rules for Riley," included such things as "being polite," "behaves in public," "toys stay in her room" and "listen to mom & me."

But as the capital murder trial of Riley's mom, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, resumes on Thursday, her attorneys will continue arguing before jurors that a discipline session to teach the child these behaviors spun out of control and their client never intended for her daughter to die as a result.

Galveston County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Elias Cazares testified Wednesday the list was written in a notebook found by authorities in the couple's home after they were arrested for the death of Riley, who police dubbed "Baby Grace." There was space for a 10th item on the list but it was left blank.

Click here for photos of 'Baby Grace.'

Click here for photos from the trial.

Both Trenor and Riley's stepfather, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, were charged with capital murder for the child's death. Prosecutors are arguing both Trenor and Zeigler are equally responsible for Riley's death on July 25, 2007.

After Riley was killed, the couple bought a plastic container, partially filled it with cement, stuffed her beaten body inside and stored it in a shed at their home before dumping the remains in Galveston Bay in September 2007, according to authorities.
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=8325646&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.1.1

[Nut44x4]

'Baby Grace' Mom Found Guilty of Capital Murder

GALVESTON, Texas —  A mother was convicted Monday of capital murder in the beating death of her 2-year-old daughter during a daylong discipline session in which the toddler was whipped with belts and flung across a room like a rag doll.

A jury deliberated less than two hours before convicting 20-year-old Kimberly Dawn Trenor in the death of Riley Ann Sawyers. Trenor did not seem to show any emotion after the verdict was read. The conviction brought an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. Jurors could have also convicted her of two lesser charges.

"Justice has been served today. Today it's about Riley. We were in that courtroom for Riley," Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said after the verdict.

Trenor and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, were accused of killing the toddler during the July 2007 discipline session designed to teach her proper manners. Prosecutors said Trenor and Zeigler beat Riley with belts, dunked her head in cold bath water and threw her onto a tile floor, fracturing her skull and causing her death. Zeigler, also charged with capital murder, is being tried later and remains jailed.

After Riley's death, the couple stuffed her body in a plastic box and hid it in a storage shed at their suburban Houston home before dumping it in Galveston Bay, according to authorities.

Investigators with the Galveston County Sheriff's Department dubbed the toddler "Baby Grace" during the weeks they worked to identify her remains, discovered by a fisherman on a small island in the bay.

Many of those investigators were in the courtroom Monday and they cried as the verdict was read.

"We all made a promise to that little girl ... that we would find the people responsible for her death and bring them to justice and we did," said Galveston County Sheriff's Sgt. Michael Barry, who right after the verdict was read left the courtroom and raised his fist in victory.

Trenor's defense attorney, Tommie Stickler Jr., said he was disappointed by the verdict but wasn't surprised by how quickly the jury came back with its decision.

During his closing arguments earlier Monday, Stickler implored jurors not to make a decision based on emotion but on the evidence in the case.

"I'm not going to say the jury did or didn't put away their emotions," he said. "I don't think anybody could have put them aside."

The jury foreman, Randall Rothschild, said jurors came back with a verdict fairly quickly because they felt the case was "pretty cut and dried."

"It's an emotional trial because of the victim," Rothschild said as his eyes became teary. "That was hard to set aside (emotions) and stick to the facts. But we did and justice is served."

Riley's identity was a mystery for weeks until her paternal grandmother in Ohio, Sheryl Sawyers, saw an artist's sketch of the girl and told authorities in Texas she thought it was her granddaughter.

Sawyers testified during the trial and was in the courtroom as the verdict was read. She did not speak with reporters afterward.

"For Sheryl it's difficult. She looked at Kimberly as a daughter," said Laura DePledge, an attorney for the Sawyers family. "It's a victory for Riley but it's another loss for Sheryl and the Trenor family."

During closing arguments Monday, Sistrunk repeatedly slammed his fist against a table, telling jurors that was the sound Riley's skull made when her head was slammed against the tile floor.

Prosecutors called Trenor a cold-blooded liar who ignored her daughter's pleas to stop the abuse.

Trenor admitted taking part in the discipline session but blamed 25-year-old Zeigler for throwing Riley across the family room and causing the skull fractures.

"This was unacceptable abuse that will be punished but it's not capital murder," Stickler said during his closing arguments.

Stickler said Trenor never intended to kill her daughter and painted a picture of a frightened 18 year old at the time of Riley's death who was being controlled by her husband.

But prosecutor Kayla Allen told jurors Trenor was a strong person who killed her daughter because the girl was in the way of her happiness with her new husband.

Trenor and Zeigler met playing an online video game and married in June 2007 after Trenor moved with her daughter from Mentor, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, to Spring, a suburb north of Houston.

Earlier Monday, Trenor's attorney presented only one defense witness, a co-worker of her husband's. The witness testified he believed Zeigler seemed to be controlling of his wife.

That followed an unsuccessful attempt by Stickler to get Zeigler to testify. Zeigler invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself when questioned by Stickler outside the presence of the jury.

Galveston County Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik testified Monday any reasonable person could have seen Riley had been affected by having her head hit the floor and was in need of medical attention.

Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty against either Trenor or Zeigler because they didn't think they could prove that the pair would be a future danger, a requirement for such a punishment.

Click here for photos of 'Baby Grace.'

Click here for photos from the trial.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487048,00.html

[Lil Daisy]

it insults my intelligence to hear that defense attorney say " people will see that he{Zeigler} is not a monster" hellooooo, is he eaten up with the ' dumb a** syndrome?'
and why would either of those heathens want to try to get out of prison? are they so stupid not to believe that all those thousands of "mad as hell" texans would take em out within 5 minutes? behind bars is a luxury place for those two compared to what would happen to them.
I know the big man upstairs said "leave vengeance to me"--but this one case would make the majority lose their religion if that baby is not vindicated by what they did to her

[Nut44x4]

STEP-DADDY's turn!!

Jury pool in place for Baby Grace trial

11:17 AM CDT on Thursday, October 15, 2009

GALVESTON — The jury that will hear the murder trial of a stepfather charged in the death of Baby Grace will come from a pool of 179 potential jurors, Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys whittled down the jury pool from 1,250 in just a few hours Wednesday in what was expected to have been a three-day process.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Oct. 27.

Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, was charged in the July 25, 2007, death of Riley Ann Sawyers. Authorities named Sawyers “Baby Grace” until learning the identity of the 2-year-old, whose decomposed body was found in a plastic box by fishermen on an island near Hitchcock in Galveston Bay.

Zeigler’s wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 21, was convicted Feb. 2 of capital murder in her daughter’s death and was sentenced to life in prison.

She was moved from state prison to the Galveston County Jail, but authorities have not said whether she will testify against Zeigler.

If convicted, Zeigler faces the same penalty as Trenor — life without the possibility of parole. Sistrunk didn’t seek the death penalty in either case.

Testimony in Zeigler’s trial is expected to begin Oct. 28.

The state’s witness list contains 134 names.

The defense listed three experts, including a forensic pathologist and psychologist, as potential witnesses.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou091015_jj_baby-grace-jury-pool.21bde6e7d.html

[MuffyBee]

I'm praying for justice to prevail for little Riley Ann.