CLEVELAND — The trial of Sierra Day and Deonte Lewis, the couple facing murder charges in the death of Day's 4-year-old daughter Aniya Day-Garrett, began Thursday.
Jury selection began Wednesday and finished quickly Thursday. Opening arguments got under way around 1:45 p.m. Multiple witnesses for the prosecution were also called to testify.
Prosecutors alleged the evidence pointed to Day and Lewis becoming so into each other that Aniya had become withdrawn and seen by almost no one. She also apparently weighed less than 30 pounds and had various injuries on her body.
Day and Lewis are being tried together, but the attorney for Lewis argues he was not consistently in the apartment in the days leading up to Aniya's death. Meanwhile, Day's attorney claimed her client could not have killed Aniya because she wasn't in the apartment when the injuries took place.
Aniya died last March after she suffered a stroke as a result of multiple blows to the head. WKYC's investigative team found that Aniya was abused as far back as 2015 in the custody of her mother and her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Aniya's father, Mickhal Garrett, says he fought for custody of her prior to her death.
Aniya's death sparked local outrage after it was learned that her daycares failed to report signs of abuse. As a result, Get Ready Set Grow in Euclid will shut its doors March 31 after reaching a settlement with the state, which revoked its child care license. The day care's owners cannot apply for a new license for four years.
A May 2017 Euclid police report showed 14 instances of abuse against Aniya dating back to 2015. The cases detail a variety of injuries including bruises, bumps and black eyes. But daycare staff at Harbor Crest failed to contact county children services about the abuse, as required.
A letter sent to Harbor Crest's owners listed 11 violations, including failure to report suspicions of abuse, staff leaving children unsupervised and providing false information when staff presented inaccurate employee records.
Harbor Crest disputed the findings but agreed to retrain its workers.