GALVESTON, Texas (AP) _ A Southeast Texas man accused in the 2007 death of his toddler stepdaughter wrote a suicide note saying he was guilty of past sins and proclaimed his wife’s innocence.
But the note presented Tuesday in the capital murder trial of Royce Clyde Zeigler II did not say what he was guilty of. Zeigler is charged with killing 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers.
She was dubbed “Baby Grace” after her battered body was discovered in a container in Galveston Bay.
Zeigler’s defense team claims the suicide note, which he wrote just before his November 2007 arrest, was not an admission of guilt but an attempt by him to protect his wife, Kimberly Ann Trenor.
Trenor was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison in Baby Grace’s death.