Petition filed with highest Texas court to reinstate Staley's capital murder conviction
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Prosecutors have filed a petition with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, asking the court to reinstate the capital murder conviction of James Staley for the 2018 death of 2-year-old Jason Wilder McDaniel.
James Irvin Staley, III, 42, of Wichita Falls was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole nearly two years ago, on March 13, 2023. He's been serving that sentence in Amarillo's Bill Clemens Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
EXPLAINER: Why James Staley's capital murder conviction was reversed
On March 6, 2025, almost a year after Staley's appeal was submitted, the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth reversed his conviction and remanded for a new trial.
John Gillespie, Wichita County District Attorney, said he disagreed with the Second Court of Appeals' decision and that he intended to fight it.
On May 5, 2025, prosecutors filed a petition with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court in Texas, requesting a discretionary review of the appellate court's decision and asking for Staley's conviction to be reinstated.
According to Staley's appellate brief, filed by high-profile appellate attorney Keith Hampton, the case for an appeal of his conviction stemmed from a failure by the Wichita Falls Police Department to produce an adequate search warrant or affidavit to obtain such.
As a result of that affidavit, several devices were seized from Staley's home almost two weeks after Wilder's death, including Staley's cell phone and a Mac Mini computer.
PREVIOUS STORY: James Staley's capital murder conviction reversed on appeal
According to Hampton, who argued the appellate case on March 12, 2024, the video never should have been admitted into evidence because it violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
According to the Second Court of Appeal's memorandum opinion, the appellate justices agreed with Staley, adding that they couldn't determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the evidence admitted as a result of that warrant wasn't a factor in the deliberation of the Tarrant County jury.
According to the prosecution's petition for a discretionary review, case law has been 'overextended' by intermediate courts, and because of this, those courts have 'reached erratic decisions.'
Prosecutors argued that Staley's case 'presents another pressing need for clarification' regarding search warrants, and whether or not they should 'account for expanded fair probabilities for household homicides.'
'The court of appeals' disregard of these broadened probabilities, recognized by Massachusetts in a similar case, threatens law enforcement's ability to obtain this critical evidence,' the petition said. 'The frequency of relationship-based homicides makes this an important issue.'
READ MORE: James Staley's appeal submitted after oral arguments
The prosecution argued in its petition that probable cause 'depends on probabilities, not certainties,' and that a fair probability of finding such evidence on items, like electronic devices seized from Staley's home, amounts to probable cause.
According to the petition, this is due in part to the fact that Wilder McDaniel was found dead inside Staley's home, where he had been staying with his mother, Amber McDaniel, and that there was a 'pre-existing fraught relationship between the defendant and victim.'
In its petition for a discretionary review, the prosecution also alleged that the appellate court disregarded a precedent set by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals based on a previous decision in the case of Holder v. State.
The petition said that, according to the Holder decision, a trial court finding that evidence admitted during trial, even if the warrant lacked probable cause, would mean that the evidence is still admissible under federal law.
'The intermediate court's failure to follow Holder created conflict among the courts of appeals,' the petition said. ' This failure also led to the improper reversal of Appellant's capital murder conviction.'
According to the prosecution's petition, the Second Court of Appeals failed to consider any of the evidence admitted during Staley's trial that was legally obtained.
READ MORE: James Staley appeal calls key trial evidence unconstitutional
The prosecution claimed that the Second Court of Appeals reversed Staley's conviction due to the videos that were admitted into evidence, including a video of Staley slapping the child with full force, but didn't take into account the remaining evidence, or whether or not the 'Slap Video' was any more or less incriminating than the other evidence.
The petition claimed that 'the case described in the opinion' given by the Second Court of Appeals 'was unrecognizable from the multi-week capital murder case actually tried.'
The prosecution asserted that 'overwhelming evidence independent of the video showed that only [James Staley] could have killed Wilder,' calling the evidence admitted in the trial outside of the 'Slap Video' was 'not merely cumulative but overwhelming.'
The prosecution's petition ended with a plea for the highest criminal court in Texas to reverse the decision of the Second Court of Appeals, to 'conduct its own review, hold any error was harmless, and reinstate the conviction.'
According to courthouse officials, it may take anywhere between a month and six months before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decides whether or not to grant the petition.
If the petition is granted, both Staley's defense and prosecutors will then submit another brief to the highest court in Texas. Prosecutors have also requested that they be able to present oral arguments to the court.
WATCH: Wichita County District Attorney John Gillespie talks James Staley trial
Previously, Gillespie indicated that even if the petition is not granted, and Staley's conviction is not reinstated, he's not done fighting.
'If we cannot get the conviction reinstated, then we'll try the case again and get him a second time,' Gillespie said. 'I've only begun to fight.'
Staley will remain incarcerated at the Clemens Unit while the petition is pending, according to courthouse officials.Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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