GALVESTON, Texas (AP) _ Prosecutors were expected to wrap up their case today against a mother accused of beating her 2-year-old daughter to death during a deadly discipline session and dumping the body out to sea.
Galveston County Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik was expected to take the stand as the last prosecution witness.
Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 20, is charged with capital murder in the death of her daughter, Riley Ann Sawyers
Prosecutors have argued that Trenor and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, are responsible for Riley’s death, saying they beat her, dunked her head in cold bath water and threw her onto a tile floor, fracturing her skull during a daylong discipline session designed to teach her proper manners.
Zeigler, Riley’s stepfather, is also charged with capital murder in the girl’s July 2007 death and will be tried later.