Yes, Audrey Sims, Liz is your child - and her actions led to the death of Marcus

Liz Carroll to be sentenced today
Her mother yells after the verdict is read, saying key witness is guilty in child's death
Greber, Dave. Dayton Daily News, Feb. 22, 2007, pg. A7.

BATAVIA — The jury foreman in Liz Carroll's criminal trial said the Clermont County Common Pleas panel convicted the foster mother based on her statement to a grand jury, and not the testimony of the prosecution's key witness.

"We were ready and wanted to hear Liz's case. But we feel her defense was unimpressive and disappointing," jury foreman Paul Brownstead told a Cincinnati TV station Wednesday after the jury convicted Carroll of murder and other charges in the death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel.

"If Liz Carroll was not guilty, we were fine with that. I feel sorry for Liz that Mr. (defense attorney Gregory) Cohen didn't put up a fight. Our verdict came from her grand jury statement, not from testimony from Amy Baker."

Carroll, who told a grand jury she helped bind the child, is to be sentenced this morning for causing Marcus' death. She could get at least 15 years to life in prison on charges of murder and other felonies for leaving Marcus bound and in a playpen in a closet last August while she traveled to a family reunion in Kentucky.

Carroll's mother, Audrey Sims, stared blankly at her daughter as Judge Robert P. Ringland read the verdict and the jurors were led from the courtroom. Her body flailing, Sims shrieked at the empty jury box.

"She's my child!" Sims screamed over and over.

It's not known whether jurors heard Sims — each declined comment — but her yelling could be heard through two sets of wooden doors guarded by county deputies. Family members escorted Sims outside.

"That's my child. It was Amy (Baker) who did it. Don't nobody care that Amy did it. None of you care!" Sims howled. - IGNORANT WOMAN

Baker, 25, was the prosecution's key witness and the livein girlfriend of Liz and David Carroll Jr. She testified that she helped David Carroll dispose of Marcus' remains. She has immunity from criminal charges so long as she had no responsibility for his death.

Cohen said he plans to appeal the verdict in the 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown.

Prosecutors Daniel "Woody" Breyer of Clermont County and Mark Piepmeier of Hamilton County declined comment after the case. Ringland imposed a gag order on all three attorneys.

Marcus' biological mother, Donna Trevino of Middletown, could not be reached for comment.

In his summation, Piepmeier said Liz Carroll disobeyed her duty to Marcus as a foster parent. Their foster care application instructed that Marcus should never be left alone because of his history of wandering off.

Liz Carroll disregarded that order and left the child alone in their Union Twp. home, bound and stuffed in a closet for more than 36 hours, Piepmeier said.

"And what makes it more troubling and incomprehensible is when it happens at the hands of his mother."

He painted a picture of isolation, the kind of loneliness experienced by an abandoned child.

"One of the things that came out of this case is how Marcus loved to hug," Piepmeier told the jury. "When we think of a child in his last moments, and at some point, probably late Saturday, Marcus was drawing his last breath, kicking his little feet for the last time …

"And if there's any time a child need his mom to hug him, it's then. And all he had hugging him at that point was a little mummy cocoon blanket that they left him in."

Cohen, as he had done in his opening remarks, attempted to discredit Baker's testimony. He reminded the jury of David Carroll's involvement and portrayed Liz Carroll as a victim.

David Carroll, 29, is to be tried in March on the same charges as his wife, along with gross abuse of a corpse.

Cohen also answered criticism that followed his cross examination of Baker, which failed to expose certain details of her troubled life that includes violence and affairs.

"They (the state) bring you Amy Baker," Cohen said. "And everybody expects me to pound on Amy. Why do I have to pound on Amy Baker?"

He described Liz Carroll as "a beaten-down woman trying to protect her family and protect David. She did a miserable job on both accounts."