HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A jury convicted a Florida man Friday of murdering his former son-in-law, rejecting the man's defense that he was too fat to have run up and down a flight of stairs to commit the crime and make a quick getaway.
Edward Ates looked down and shook his head in court as he was found guilty of murder and weapons counts for killing Paul Duncsak, who was shot six times at his home in Ramsey, about 25 miles northwest of New York.
Ates' "too fat to kill" defense provided an angle to the trial that attracted attention from the news media but didn't sway the jury of eight women and four men.
'Baby Grace' killer convicted
GALVESTON, Texas -- Two years after the remains of a toddler who came to be known as "Baby Grace" were dumped in Galveston Bay, the child's stepfather was convicted of capital murder in her beating death.
The remains of Riley Ann Sawyer -- weighing 12 pounds and stuffed into a plastic container -- remained unidentified for nearly a month after they were discovered in October 2007. Investigators dubbed the child "Baby Grace."
Then Sheryl Sawyers of Mentor, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, saw an artist's sketch and told Texas police she thought the child might be her missing granddaughter.
Riley's stepfather, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, was convicted of capital murder Friday and will receive an automatic life sentence without parole because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. Jurors, who deliberated for 4¬
