GALVESTON, Texas — The attorney handling legal appeals for Kimberly Dawn Trenor, convicted of capital murder in the notorious Baby Grace killing, will ask an appellate court to consider a new trial.
Greg Russell has worked the appeal since Trenor’s Feb. 2 conviction for the July 25, 2007, beating death of her daughter, Riley Ann Sawyers.
Trenor’s co-defendant and husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, was convicted Friday, also of capital murder. Barring a successful appeal, the husband and wife will spend the rest of their lives in prison.
The 2-year-old toddler died a slow, painful death, testimony revealed.
Russell said he mailed Trenor’s appeal to the First Court of Appeals in Houston on Monday.
"One of the arguments, points of error — and we’re going to have a couple — is that the evidence is insufficient that she did not have the culpable mental state for capital murder," Russell said.
Russell declined to discuss additional points, but said the state failed to prove Trenor, 21, meant to kill Sawyers or that she intentionally or knowingly killed her.
Jurors chose capital murder convictions rather than lesser included charges of manslaughter, which deals with reckless incidents that result in death.
After Sawyers’ death, which prosecutors say was from a daylong disciplinary session that went bad, Zeigler admitted to storing Sawyers’ body for weeks in a box inside his carport in Spring.
Zeigler also admitted to tossing the box off the Galveston railroad bridge.
Oct. 29, 2007, a fisherman found the box containing the toddler’s remains wrapped in three plastic bags on an island in Galveston Bay.
Galveston County sheriff’s investigators named the girl Baby Grace until learning her identity 26 days later.
There is no timetable for the appeal, Russell said.
"Sometimes it takes four months," Russell said. "Sometimes it takes a year. There’s no rhyme or reason. It has a lot to do with the backlog."
Trenor remained Monday at the Galveston County Jail after she was brought by bench warrant from state prison. She didn’t testify against her husband, and her four-hour videotaped interview with authorities, implicating the couple in Sawyers’ death, wasn’t admissible in Zeigler’s trial.
Prosecutors field a motion to compel Trenor to testify, offering her immunity for anything she said, Russell said.
The immunity would have applied if she was granted a new trial, and prosecutors wouldn’t have used her statements against her if her appeal were successful, Russell said.
This story was brought to you thanks to khou.com's partnership with The Galveston County Daily News.
raymon said on November 10, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Getting beat down and being at the mercy of big mama must not be too much fun!
broadmindedbroad said on November 10, 2009 at 9:38 AM
IMO, if she wasn't every bit as guilty as Zeigler, she wouldn't have tried to cover up the child's death. She wouldn't have treated the dead, battered body of her "beloved" child like so much smelly garbage. She wouldn't have been able to keep going to work, acting as if nothing had happened. How could ANYONE live with the body of their child for 2 months in the garage or storage shed? How could ANYONE live with THEMSELVES, never mind the MURDERER of their child, as if nothing had happened? It defies explanation or excuse. Go ahead and give her a new trial, but this time put the Death Penalty on the table! Parents everywhere are totally outraged about everything to do with this case, and I guarantee she'll be convicted again. She better HOPE the Death Penalty isn't an option!
lilsharon said on November 10, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Riley didn't get to appeal her mom and Zeiglers decision to do what they did to her. These people should rot in hell but I am not the one they will have to face on Judgement day. Maybe God will have mercy on them, but we the people shouldn't have to.
missprissy said on November 10, 2009 at 10:09 AM
OMG............................................................. Someone has to be kidding, this thing along with her "husband" ought to be thankful that they didn't get the death penalty instead of prison, to begin with. I guess now she is going to go back to court and say Ziegler kill the baby, then I guess he will want another trial so they he can blame her. SAVE taxpayer money and just leave them both to rot in their cells.
kellydown said on November 10, 2009 at 10:52 AM
This is why the courts should be able to change the charge so that she will face the death penalty if she appeals. The guilty would leave well enough alone if they thought that next time they could die.
gaya121 said on November 10, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Pathetic! What real parent could have let this happen to an innocent 2 year old? Personally, I think we waste too much time on people like this. However, no matter what the courts let them do, they have a much higher law to answer too in the end. May God have mercy on their souls, because I am hard pressed to believe anything good of people that beat and torture a child!
harley2 said on November 10, 2009 at 12:14 PM
she should get death. A TTRONEYS are crude liars and care about $$$$$$$ they have no feelings to me they are s// t
pipeliner said on November 10, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Are you kidding me. Why are laws put into motion in this state, and then they are not enforced. The law was passed for Capital murder charges on anyone convicted of knownly murdering a child or a police officer. What happened to all our tax payer money that it took to pass this law. This is exactly why people commit the crimes that they do, because they get very little time and certainly NO punishment. This country is headed to hell with a downward pull. Listen up people, we are living in the end times because GOD has had it with us, and I don't blame him. Man has and will forever remain EVIL. May GOD have mercy on all of us.
queenrocky said on November 12, 2009 at 3:33 AM
I HOPE SHE DO NOT HAVE A PUBLIC DEFENDER LAWYER ! WHY WASTE THE TAX PAYERS MONEY ON THIS APPEAL B S. THE MOM NEEDS TO BE SHOT AND HER LAWYER NEEDS TO HAVE A MENTAL EVAL DONE TO EVEN FILE SUCH? THAT IS A WASTE OF PAPER!