The mother of slain Little Rock TV anchor Anne Pressly, has taken the witness stand in the Curtis Vance murder trial.

In the first day of testimony for the proceedings, Patti Cannady told the jury about the morning she found her daughter in the bedroom of Pressly's home following a burglary-turned-attack.

Cannady testified, "It was horrific. I simply could not take the scene in. I could not imagine what I was seeing," she said. "There was blood on the ceiling. That's how horrific the attack was."

Cannady went on to say "her face was swollen, her hair was completely matted. She was beyond recognition."

Pressly's mother also testified, "I was in complete shock. I said 'Anne, mama's here. mama's here.' My first thought was to run for help."

In talking about the last time she saw her daughter before the attack, Cannady said, "I had the sense to run after her. She rolled down the window and I kissed her on the forehead and told her I loved her."

Jurors also heard testimony from two police officers, a sexual assault nurse examiner, and an emergency room physician.  The ER physicians said the bones in Pressly's face were shattered...along with numerous lacerations to her head.

A nurse who performed a rape kit on Pressly said, "I could not believe she was alive...I've seen head trauma, they're usually not alive."

A jury was not seated in the trial until this afternoon, after two and a half days of jury selection.

This morning one juror told the court he would need to step down.

The man, who is Catholic says his religion played a role in his decision, and also told the court, "I do not think I could vote for the death penalty. I was up all night thinking about it. I wanted to be fair to the court."

This development dropped the number of selected jurors down to 10. The two more that were needed as well as two alternates were in place for opening arguments to begin at 2:00.

Vance faces the death penalty if convicted in the killing.

Pressly died October 25, 2008 five days after being beaten and sexually assaulted in the attack.