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Parents Face Capital Murder Charges in Baby Grace Case

Posted Dec 13, 07 3:40 AM CST in Crime & Courts,  US 

(Newser) – A grand jury took just three minutes to decide to bring capital murder charges against a Texas couple in the death of their 2-year-old daughter, the Houston Chronicle reports. The child's mother has admitted that the child, dubbed Baby Grace, died after she and her husband beat the little girl. Baby Grace's body was found stuffed in a plastic cooler in Galveston Bay months later.

The pair had originally been charged with injury to a child. Under the new, upgraded charges, prosecutors will be able to seek the death penalty. "I'm comfortable with the indictment as it stands now," said the child's paternal grandmother. "She's not injured; she's dead." The mother's lawyer said she had not meant to kill her child.

Source Houston Chronicle

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Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 24, of Spring , Texas is shown in this undated booking photo released by the Galveston County Sheriff's office. Zeigler is the step father of Riley Ann Sawyers, 4, known as Baby...   (Associated Press)
Sheryl Sawyers hugs her son Ray Sawyers as she holds a photo of her granddaughter Riley Ann and an Elmo doll Monday, Nov. 26, 2007, during a press conference at the Mentor Civic Center in Mentor, Ohio....   (Associated Press)
This undated booking photo released by the Galveston County Sheriff's office shows Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, of Spring, Texas. Trenor is the mother of Riley Ann Sawyers, 4, known as Baby Grace , a young...   (Associated Press)
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