HENRICO, Va. – Day one of a week-long trial in Henrico Circuit Court, for the death of three-year–old Zyon Thompson, began with jury selection.
Alexis Raiford faces murder, child abuse, and cruelty charges in Zyon’s death. Prosecutors said Raiford and two others watched the boy for his mother.
They took him to the hospital in April after they noticed he was having trouble breathing; he died a short time later.
Investigators said the child was forced to eat crab seasoning and had been subjected to other abuse, including torture and beatings.
Raiford said, in a jailhouse interview shortly after her arrest, that she did not hurt the boy, and that he got into the crab seasoning by accident.
Clarence Raiford Jr. and William Corey Moore, the other two charged in the case, were convicted in December.
Moore, 25, pleaded guilty to felony murder and child abuse causing serious injury.
Raiford Jr., 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony child abuse causing serious injury and one count of conspiracy to commit felony child abuse causing serious injury. He also entered an Alford plea to felony murder. That means while he admitted there was enough evidence to convict him, he would not admit guilt.
They're scheduled for sentencing next month.
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