Pammy Maye murder trial begins with opening statements, several witnesses testify on first day

Pammy Maye is accused of killing 5-year-old Darnell Taylor in 2024. Taylor was in foster care and had been living with Maye.(Columbus Division of Police)A jury heard opening statements and several witnesses testify on day one in the murder trial of Pammy Maye, the woman accused of killing her 5-year-old foster child in Feb. 2024.Maye, 51, is charged with aggravated murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse for killing Darnell Taylor by suffocating him with a plastic bag. Authorities say Maye disposed of Taylor's body in a storm drain in Columbus and fled to the Cleveland area, where she was later arrested by police.She is also accused of taking several steps to conceal the crime, including covering her license plate and washing the sheets of Taylor's bed, where he urinated as he was suffocating.The jury will decide whether or not Maye was mentally ill when she killed Taylor, which she admitted to doing to police. Maye was offered a plea deal by prosecutors in July, but decl