Dallas County District Court Judge Terry R. Rickers ordered Monday the trial of Marc and Misty Ray of Perry moved to Woodbury County in western Iowa.
The Rays are accused of first-degree murder in the 2017 death of their adoptive daughter, 16-year-old Sabrina Ray.
Rickers ruled last week in favor of the Rays’ motion for a change of venue.
The trial is scheduled to being Monday, Feb. 4, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. in the Woodbury County District Court in Sioux City.
In granting the motion for a change of venue last week, Rickers noted “the numerous comments and responses from prospective jurors that were very vitriolic and very hostile and very passionate about their preconceived disdain for the defendants in this case.”
Rickers said prejudice in the minds of jury candidates in Dallas County made fairness unlikely and bias very probable.
Sabrina Ray was found unresponsive about 6:30 p.m. May 12, 2017, at 1708 First Ave. in Perry, where the Rays operated a daycare facility. Sabrina weighed 56 pounds when she died, according to the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner.
The Rays were arrested May 18, 2017, and were each initially charged with one count of child endangerment resulting in death, four counts of child endangerment resulting in serious injury and three counts of neglect or abandonment of a dependent person.
First-degree kidnapping charges were filed against the Rays one week after their arrest, and first-degree murder charges were filed against them in October 2017.
Sabrina’s grandmother, Carla Raye Bousman, 63, of Perry, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in April in a plea bargain arranged by her attorney. Sabrina’s brother, Justin Ray, 22, of Perry, was sentenced in February to 10 years in prison in a plea bargain arranged by his attorney.
I hope they get the death sentence if Iowa has it. If not, then life without the possibility of parole.