Trial date set for Edes

An October trial date has been set for Gayle Edes, who is facing a felony charge in the 2011 death of four-year-old Chance Mark Jones.

During a district court hearing last Wednesday, August 29, District Judge Stuart Messer set October 23, 2012, as the date for Edes’ trial, and attorneys for both sides said they expect the trial to last four days.

Edes did not appear at last week’s hearing. Her attorney, Selden Hale, had requested that her presence be excused due to a number of health issues. Hale told Messer he believes Edes will be recovered enough to be at the October trial date.

Edes was indicted by the Donley County Grand Jury on January 4 of this year on the first degree felony charge of Injury to a Child by Omission. Her indictment and subsequent arrest came exactly one year after local authorities were called to the rural Donley County residence of Edes’ son, Robert Babcock, where they found Jones unresponsive and obviously beaten.

Jones died the next morning at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, and court records allege that Edes intentionally or knowingly, by omission, caused serious bodily injury to Jones by her failure to get medical attention for the boy.

In June, a Hall County jury found Babcock guilty of capital murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. If convicted, Edes could face a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison and a fine up to $10,000.