Jury expected to return Monday for closing arguments in Staley's trial
FORT WORTH, Texas — The defense and prosecution both closed just after 4 p.m. Thursday in the murder trial of James Irven Staley III at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center.
Staley is accused of killing 2-year-old Jason Wilder McDaniel Oct. 11, 2018, in a Wichita Falls home.
"That's all the evidence you're going to hear in this case," Senior District Judge Everett Young told the 12 jurors and two alternates who have sat through almost two weeks of testimony.
The jury is to report back to court 9 a.m. Monday, likely for closing arguments and then to consider whether they will find Staley guilty or acquit him.
On Friday, the prosecution and defense are to work on the formal charge to give to the jury on Monday. Staley does not have to be present Friday.
A charge formally sets out the allegations against someone, a jury's options within the charges against a defendant and the choice to find the defendant guilty or not guilty.
The charges against Staley include murder and capital murder of a person younger than 10. It is up to a jury to choose which one if he is convicted.
Staley has maintained his innocence of charges related to Wilder's death.
If he is found not guilty, the trial will end. If he is found guilty, a punishment phase in the trial may follow.
Murder is punishable by up to life in prison. The maximum punishment he will face if convicted of capital murder is life without parole, which the Wichita County District Attorney's Office is seeking.
The DA's Office has waived the death penalty, so a capital murder conviction would bring an automatic life sentence without parole. In that case, no punishment phase would take place in the trial.
Most of the trial has consisted of the prosecution's case.
Prosecutors rested about noon Thursday after presenting a stream of witnesses, including Amber Odom McDaniel, who is Wilder's mother, a child abuse pediatrics expert and a childhood friend of Staley's.
The prosecution's theory is that Staley smothered Wilder to death in his crib at Staley's Country Club area home and them moved the body to the floor to stage the death scene.
The defense's theory is that Wilder attempted to get out of the crib by himself and sustained fatal injuries, perhaps a concussion.
Defense attorneys put witnesses on the stand Thursday, including an AMR paramedic, a pediatric expert, a retired Fort Worth police officer who is a forensics expert and the private investigator who founded the Illinois Innocence Project.
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 to return Monday for closing arguments in Staley trial
