Ex-Ohio woman guilty in daughter’s death

Ex-Ohio woman guilty in daughter’s death

GALVESTON, Texas — A Texas jury has convicted a woman from Ohio accused in the beating death of her 2-year-old daughter.

Jurors deliberated less than two hours Monday in the capital murder trial of former Mentor, Ohio, resident Kimberly Dawn Trenor. Trenor received an automatic life prison sentence. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

Trenor and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, were accused of killing Riley Ann Sawyers during a 2007 discipline session. Zeigler was the girl’s stepfather and is also charged with capital murder. He is being tried later.

The girl’s unidentified remains were found in a container in Galveston Bay in October 2007.

The victim was dubbed “Baby Grace” until her paternal grandmother in Northeast Ohio saw media stories about the girl and identified her.

At least 21 officers killed

KABUL, Afghanistan — In an attack that underscored the vulnerability of Afghanistan’s struggling security forces, a suicide bomber dressed in police uniform slipped into a police compound and detonated a powerful explosive device Monday, killing at least 21 officers, authorities said.

The attack in southern Afghanistan also wounded a dozen police officers, according to the Interior Ministry.

DNA of bones tested

ALBANY, Ind. — Bone fragments found in a decayed box in a bank building are being subjected to DNA tests to determine whether they might be the remains of an Indiana man who vanished in 1962.

Authorities expect to know in a few weeks whether there’s a match between DNA extracted from the bone fragments and a DNA sample provided by a southwest Ohio woman who is the daughter of Charles Starr.

Starr, 37, vanished Oct. 12, 1962, after leaving a Muncie bar. Police found his Muncie apartment open and his keys locked inside his station wagon but never found any trace of her father, who was a Muncie factory worker, said his daughter, Laura Schetzer, of Hamilton, Ohio.

Blagojevich back on TV

CHICAGO — A publicist says former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants to reiterate his innocence in another slew of television appearances including the “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Days after being booted from office, Blagojevich will appear today on NBC’s “Today” show, CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Fox’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” and Letterman’s show.

Blagojevich faces federal corruption charges including allegations he tried to profit from President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. He was removed from office Thursday.

Gregg works on deal

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama moved closer to nominating his secretary of commerce Monday as his top choice, GOP Sen. Judd Gregg, revealed an apparent deal by which his Senate seat would stay out of Democratic hands.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch confirmed the “understanding,” stopping just short of promising to appoint a Republican or an independent to serve out the remaining two years of Gregg’s term.

Another shoe hurler

CAMBRIDGE, England — A protester hurled abuse and then a shoe at China’s prime minister Monday while he delivered a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University at the end of his trip to Britain.

The protester leaped up from his seat near the back of a crowded auditorium, blew a whistle and yelled that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was a “dictator” before throwing the shoe toward the stage.

Like the now-famous incident when an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush in December, the gray athletic shoe missed its intended target.

Israel stands tough

HERZLIYA, Israel — Israel’s foreign minister threatened Monday to keep hitting Hamas as long as it attacks Israel, ruling out negotiations with the Islamic rulers of Gaza just eight days before national elections in which she is running for prime minister.

Tzipi Livni’s tough statement came as a Hamas delegation went to Cairo for talks today with Egyptian mediators on a long-term truce with Israel, building on a two-week informal cease-fire.

Combined dispatches