FORT WORTH, Texas — The defense and prosecution made opening statements in the trial of a man accused of murdering 2-year-old Jason Wilder McDaniel in a Country Club area home Oct. 11, 2018.

James Irven Staley III sat quietly during the proceedings Monday, listening as a prosecutor described the “horror” of the allegations against him.

“This defendant smothered the life out of that sweet little boy,” Lisa Tanner, one of the prosecutors, told the jury.

Tanner read jurors electronic messages Staley wrote about Wilder, such as, ”Scumbags and (off color term) need to be culled, and he’s both.”

Tanner said Staley referred to Wilder with a racial slur in those messages, too.

“You’ll see how he felt about Wilder McDaniel,” Tanner said.

Defense attorney Mark G. Daniel told the jury that prosecutors shopped around for expert opinions in the case to support their theory that Staley suffocated Wilder.

Daniel called into question the validity of some experts and their opinions.

As for Staley, Daniel said he has a dark sense of humor and a foul mouth.

“James does not have very good judgment” and “says inappropriate things,” Daniel said.

Check back with www.timesrecordnews.com for more coverage of this trial.

Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact her with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Staley trial