Prosecutors fighting to uphold a once prosperous oilman’s conviction for 2-year-old Jason Wilder McDaniel’s murder detailed their support of a warrant that yielded a wealth of key digital evidence at trial.
They contend challenges to the search warrant on appeal from James Irven Staley III, convicted of capital murder March 13, are coming too late, according to a brief filed Thursday.
What’s more, a district judge had a solid basis to issue the warrant for a search that led to police seizing Staley’s digital devices, according to prosecutors’ filings in a Fort Worth appeals court.
Hefty record for James Staley’s criminal case
That is the short version of an over 17,000-word brief submitted by Wichita County District Attorney John Gillespie and Assistant DA Bryce Perry. The appeals court allowed them to exceed a 15,000-word limit.
Gillespie and Perry noted a need to respond comprehensively to challenges raised by Staley’s appeals attorney, Keith Hampton, in a murder case with tons of documents, a huge trial record and scads of evidence.