Jury delivers verdict in Staley murder trial

FORT WORTH, Texas — A jury handed down a guilty verdict in James Irven Staley III's murder trial Monday at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center.

Jurors found Staley guilty of capital murder for the death of 2-year-old Jason Wilder McDaniel.

It took them about 4 hours to reach a verdict. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole.

Wilder's mom, Amber McDaniel, read a victim impact statement before Staley. Another woman read a victim impact statement from the child's father, Bubba McDaniel.

Senior District Judge Everett Young ordered Staley remanded to the custody of the Tarrant County sheriff.

"I did not kill Wilder McDaniel," Staley said while being handcuffed.

Cries of, "Yes, you did! Yes, you did!" rang out in the courtroom.

"Order. Order," the judge said.

Then the judge dismissed the court. Staley was led away by deputies, apparently to be held in Tarrant County Jail.

Staley smothered Wilder with a pillow in his crib on Oct. 11, 2018, in a bedroom in a Wichita Falls home, according to prosecutors and witnesses for the prosecution.

He was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and capital murder of a person younger than 10 years old. It was up to the jury to choose which charge if they opted to convict him.

First-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison. Since the Wichita County District Attorney's Office has waived the death penalty, Staley's capital murder conviction automatically brought a sentence of life in prison without parole.

The case has attracted much attention among community members and those who have been part of the Justice For Wilder movement, which focused on Staley as the alleged culprit early on.

Staley's arrest came in October 2020 about two years after Wilder's death. He has been free from jail on bonds of $1.2 million for murder charges in connection with the child's death.

The judge decided to change the venue for the trial from Wichita County to Tarrant County last year, citing concerns about pretrial publicity, safety and the danger of vigilante violence.

The process of jury selection began Feb. 22 with a questionnaire for prospective jurors, and 12 jurors and two alternates were selected Feb. 24.

The verdict comes after nine days of testimony beginning Feb. 27 and lasting through Thursday. On Friday, attorneys worked on the charge that the judge read to the jury Monday.

Closing arguments also took place Monday morning, and the jury retired to a jury room to deliberate at 11:59 a.m.

For more on testimony in the trial, the Times Record News has blogs for Week One and Week Two of testimony, as well as Week Three, which includes Monday's court events.

Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact her with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Jury reaches verdict in Staley murder trial