WACO, Texas — Former Waco daycare owner Marian Fraser has been found guilty in the murder of baby Clara Felton on Friday, March 10 with sentencing said to begin Monday morning.
Fraser, 59, was accused of killing 4-month-old Felton with a toxic amount of Benadryl at her daycare, Spoiled Rotten, on March 4, 2013.
Fraser was initially found guilty in Felton's death back in 2015, but after her conviction was overturned, she was allowed a retrial.
The jury, which was made up of six men and six women, heard from witnesses, forensic analysts and were also able to hear transcripts from the 2015 trial.
Fraser's defense team argued that text messages between Fraser and Felton's mother showed an approval to administer the child Benadryl as she was sick at the time.
However, transcripts from the 2015 trial show Fraser maintaining that she had no idea how the Benadryl got inside the baby's bottle.
The transcripts also showed that investigators found texts from Fraser to her daughter, requesting that she hide the bottles of medicine at the daycare as they were not properly labeled according to state protocols.
An added wrinkle to this retrial occurred when one of the jurors was removed from the trial. It was discovered that the juror was following a social media account that was giving commentary on the trial and was attempting to sway the decisions of other jury members.
The judge denied discussions of a mistrial.
Closing arguments took place at 9 a.m. and finished around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, March 10. The jury then deliberated and reached a verdict at 3:05 p.m.
Before the judge announced the verdict, he reminded everyone in the courtroom to refrain from any outburst or emotion. Once the judge read the guilty verdict, Fraser showed no emotion.
Fraser could have been convicted of intentional injury to a child, reckless injury to a child or endangering a child.
The punishment phase will begin on Monday, March 13 when each side will make their case to the jury. Prosecutors and defense attorneys declined to make any comments after the verdict on Friday.
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