Published December 31, 2007

By Scott E. Williams
The Daily News

In 2007, Galveston County’s courts got cases involving young and old victims of horror. Law enforcement handled cases that received national media attention at levels unseen since the 2003 murder acquittal of New York crossdressing millionaire Robert Durst.

With so much noteriety to go around, The Daily News was spilt for choice when compiling this list, but the news staff has whittled another strange year into the Top 10 Crime and Court stories of 2007.

1. Just Call Her “Baby Grace”

On Oct. 29, a fisherman in West Galveston Bay spotted a plastic tub, beached on a sandbar.

Inside were the remains of Riley Ann Sawyers, 2.

Officials knew almost immediately that the child had been dead for weeks, but were unable to identify the child for about a month.

Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, of the sheriff’s office, later said intense media coverage played a role in identifying Riley, as a relative of Riley’s contacted detectives in late November, worried that the dead toddler could be her.

On Dec. 12, a grand jury indicted Riley’s mother and step-father.

Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, and Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 24, each face charges of capital murder and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors had not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty against either or both of them.

2. An Urban Myth No More

For years, stories of a baby placed in a microwave oven were considered urban legends, along with the mouse in the Coke bottle and alligators roaming sewer pipes.

In March, an Arkansas man made that a horrific reality for his infant daughter, when he cooked her for 10 to 20 seconds in a hotel-room microwave oven.

Joshua Mauldin, who is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, had just arrived in Galveston with his wife, mother and infant daughter. He told police he had been hoping to join the ministry somewhere on the island.

In a pretrial hearing, police detective Holly Johnson later testified that Mauldin had told them he had punched and thrown the baby before putting her into the room’s safe, the refrigerator and then into the microwave.

The child suffered severe burns to her face and hands, but doctors successfully grafter skin onto the burned areas. Recovering, the baby was placed in foster-care, with relatives under orders not to have any contact with Mauldin or his wife, who continued to support him.

Mauldin’s trial, on a charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily harm, is set for March. The charge carries a possible prison term of five to 99 years.

3. Courting Disaster?

Galveston is the seat of the oldest U.S. District Court in Texas. However, that seat was empty for much of the year, as Judge Samuel Kent was under investigation for claims of sexual abuse by his former court coordinator.

In May, case manager Cathy McBroom reported that, on a Friday afternoon in March, Kent called her into his office, pushed up her shirt and bra, put his mouth on her breast and then forced her head down toward his crotch. Her mother, a friend and her lawyer, Rusty Hardin, have support her account.

Dick DeGuerin, Kent’s attorney, has said the allegations were false and that Kent’s failure to respond to media inquiries was due to a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals order barring him from doing so.

The 5th Circuit suspended Kent in September, but he is scheduled to return to the bench in January. When he does, he will rotate between hearing cases in Galveston and Houston.

The case and the 5th Circuit’s secretive handling of it has caused alarm among many open-government advocates.

4. Blasts Killed 15, Wounded Hundreds, Cost Billions

About 75 percent of lawsuits stemming from the March 2005 deadly blasts at BP’s Texas City refinery had settled by the end of the year, but at great cost.

The petroleum giant announced in December it had exhausted a $1.6 billion fund established to pay settlements in claims over the explosions that killed 15 and injured hundreds.

About 3,000 lawsuits were filed, and all state cases are in the 212th State District Court, where Judge Susan Criss has worked to arrange case-scehduling in order of severity.

Two trials, each with a batch of eight plaintiffs claiming injuries, have begun, but both settled before they could be resolved.

During the second trial, plaintiffs’ attorneys showed evidence that BP knew parts of the refinery were in need of maintenance and repair. Some of that evidence came from BP itself in documents the company had used to downplay the site’s value in a 2003 bid to lower its taxes.

5. Feathers, Fur Fly In Shooting Trial

A prominent Galveston bird-lover would not face another animal-cruelty trial, after jurors in his first trial ended deadlocked, unable to reach a verdict in his November trial.

Stevenson, president of the Galveston Ornithological Society, faced a charge of cruelty to animals for shooting a cat near the San Luis Pass bridge in November 2006.

The crux of the case was whether the cat was feral, as Stevenson had claimed, or domesticated. A bridge worker had said he had been feeding the cat and considered it a pet.

6. Murder On Beach Leaves Mystery, Mourning

The summer murder of a young mother was still a mystery in December, five months later.

Bridgette Gearan had come with friends to a rented beach house in Crystal Beach. On July 14, she stepped outside to meet friends for a ride along the beach, but disappeared in the 90 seconds it took her beach-house friends to follow her outside.

Campers discovered her beaten and partially clothed body in the water near Monkhouse Drive about 6:20 a.m. July 15. Investigators believed the 28-year-old mother of a 2-year-old girl was targeted at random for abduction, sexually assaulted and killed.

Anyone with information can call the sheriff’s office at 409-766-2222 or 866-248-8477. The reward for information has been increased to $15,000.

7. Friendswood EMS Employs Sex Offender

In September, the chief of Friendswood volunteer emergency medical service said she didn’t know that one of her volunteers was a sex offender, while another face a pending charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Daniel Logan Currie, 19, received probation in Harris County, for a charge of indecency with a child by contact. His case involved a girl younger than 13.

On Sept. 12, police arrested Josh Barret Kiessling, 29, on the sexual assault charge.

At the time, both were active members of the EMS service.

8. Doctor Keeps Freedom, Loses License In Shooting

Wameeth Fadhli, 34, received probation for shooting 21-year-old Bennie Lee Scott in Dickinson, in July 2006.

A 405th State District Court jury gave Fadhli that sentence in August, after finding him guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Fadhli shot Scott twice in an apparent case of mistaken identity. Fadhli testified that he had recently been attacked by someone who looked like Scott.

While he did not see the inside of a prison cell, the guilty verdict meant Fadhli lost his medical license.

At the time of the shooting, Fadhli was a second-year pediatrics and internal medicine resident at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

9. Hisey Gets 50 In Retrial

In 2004, David Hisey successfully overturned his murder conviction, via successful appeal, in the deaths of his elderly parents.

Ultimately, that win cost him seven years.

A second 122nd State District Court jury convicted him of two counts of murder in January, and Judge John Ellisor sentenced him to 50 years in prison; his original sentence was 43 years.

Hisey strangled his parents and lived for months with their decaying remains, in the family’s island home.

10. First Trial Becomes First Retrial

His first jury could reach no verdict, but the second panel sent Stacy Maloney a message, to go with his prison term.

Maloney in April became the first person in Galveston County to be prosecuted on a charge of online solicitation of a minor.

Maloney arranged what he thought was a meeting for sex with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl. In fact, he was walking into a police trap, and his writing partner was Kemah detective Roger Williamson.

Maloney, who testified in his first trial but not his second, claimed he thought he was merely role-playing with another adult online.

The second jury sentenced Maloney to a prison term of four years and 113 days, plus a $13 fine.

Prosecutors Larry Drosnes and Rebecca Russell noted the “13s” that his sentence shared with the “girl’s” supposed age.

http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=8d7bbdb71704976e

Emphasis added by H4K Editor