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Texas mom gets 99 years for gluing toddler to wall, beating her
[Updated at 4:22 p.m. ET] A Texas mother who super-glued her 2-year-old daughter's hands to a wall and beat her over potty training problems was sentenced Friday morning to 99 years in prison, a Dallas County felony records department district clerk said.
Elizabeth Escalona, 23, will be eligible to ask for parole in 30 years. She pleaded guilty in July to a charge of first-degree injury to a child, a crime punishable by anywhere between probation and life in prison.
"This mom was pure evil, and her children are better off without her," prosecutor Eren Price said after a judge delivered Friday's sentence. "Her five kids now have a chance to lead a productive life."
Escalona’s attorney said that the sentence was excessive and that an appeal would be filed, CNN affiliate KTVT reported.
Escalona's daughter Jocelyn Cedillo was less than two months shy of her 3rd birthday in September 2011 when Escalona used a powerful adhesive to glue her hands to a wall and beat her because of potty training troubles, authorities said. Three other children belonging to Escalona, who was pregnant at the time, witnessed the abuse, according to Dallas County district attorney's office spokeswoman Debbie Denmon.
The child urinated on herself during the ordeal, during which she was hit in head and kicked in the groin, among other forms of abuse, Denmon said.
Oefelia Escalona, the defendant's mother, testified during her daughter's sentencing hearing this week that she found the girl and took her to a hospital. Once Jocelyn was there, medical authorities noticed severe bruises to her face and head, as well as a severe brain injury that led to her temporarily being in a coma.
At this week's sentencing hearing, prosecutors showed pictures of Jocelyn's hands and bruised body and forehead.
"The entire picture was very shocking," said Dr. Amy Barton, then a child abuse pediatrician at Children's Medical Center of Dallas, choking back tears on the stand on Monday. "I see a lot of children, and this was one of the most shocking cases that I have seen."
Escalona asked for leniency during her sentencing hearing this week, saying she behaved like a monster but deserved a second chance, KTVT reported. Her mother asked the judge to sentence Elizabeth to probation, according to KTVT.
Price initially offered a plea bargain of 45 years in prison, but Escalona turned it down, the district attorney's office said.
Price said that the judge, after learning more about Escalona during the hearing, was justified in sentencing her to more time.
"Elizabeth Escalona wasn't sorry for what she did to 2-year-old Jocelyn. Elizabeth Escalona felt sorry for herself," Price said. "Those tears on the stand were for her and not for the toddler she tortured."
An attempt to reach Escalona's attorney for comment Friday was not immediately successful.
Before this incident, Escalona had been investigated by Texas Child Protective Services but never arrested or charged, Denmon said.
The child welfare agency put all of her children in foster care after Jocelyn was taken to the hospital. All five of them, including Jocelyn, are now in the custody of their grandmother, Oefelia Escalona.
On Twitter
So I could kill someone and get out in 25 years, but if I brutally beat a child I could get 99 years? The punishment is way too excessive like many of the sentences in this country unfortunately.
Just because murderers get out in less time doesn't make this too excessive. It makes the punishment for murder far to lenient. This sentence was appropriate, and anyone who commits murder should get life without parole.
ppl on here are obviously reacting based on emotion alone. if youre going to do that and envision this child as your child...why not try to imagine that your child does this to you grandchild and then tell me what you think.
I cannot imagine what this does to a poor little girl who the person she most trusts in her life betrays her like that. How can this child ever feel normal emotions when the one most important person beat her into a hospital. 99 years seems appropriate, since this child will spend a life overcoming her demons.
Did I read this correctly? She is 23, has 4 children and is pregnant? WOW
lol thats nothing really new around some rough parts of Dallas. Lack of parenting to the fullest.
No – she was pregnant when she did it she now has 5 children and is 23. At least the kids don't have to worry anymore...
There is plenty to worry about. All 5 kids are with the Gandmother who raised the 23 yr old mother.
I would be happy for a sentence of two years. With her unsupervised and left alone with prisoners who had access to belts and glue. Let her spend two years experiencing what her daughter experienced. Put pictures of the wounded child in her cell to force her to look at them every day.
Probably another illegal immigrant. Man, do they breed or what?
Didn't waste your precious time reading...well, pretty much all of your life, apparently.
We need to regulate who can have children in this country. I'm serious. Want a kid? Be a certain age and income level.
Foo has a hard point there. You have to have a license to hunt, drive, marry, carry a gun, fish (the list goes on) why not to have kids?
Yeah, we need to regulate genitalia size and shape, too. Don't want any women with too large whoozits, and no guys with teeny tiny thinguses, right? I say execute anyone with an IQ below 100. This probably means you. So long.
99 years for beating 1 child but only 30 for raping at least 10 boys?
This is Texas. that is all.
99 years was a bit light. perhaps life in prison with NO chance of parole would have been better, for the children's sake
This is an example of what causes poverty in this country. It's not the system, it's not rich people. It's poor people who have a massive amount of children they can't afford. What hope do these poor kids have now? None. You can't outlaw having children, this isn't China. But somehow, we need to deicentivize having children if you are poor.
Exactly my point. Lack of education doesn't help either, but that's usually a side-effect of being poor.
Where does it say she was poor?
There are several reasosn for poverty in this country. BTW....you can't avoid it either. You are going to have poor, middle, and upper classes based on what type of government and economy the US has. You get a good job if ou have a college education, not everyone can afford to have a college education, so you are stuck getting low paying jobs. If you are middle class (with out a colleg degree like myself) you get stuck being paid a middle wage (like myself), if you have a child (like I did) and you have your usual amount of debt, medical bills, a car, rent, etc and you are just hardly scraping by but you do not qualify for any assistance, what are you to do? You slowly become poor because you had a baby. So should I have been denied the opportunity to have a child? The child who is now my heaven and I would do anything for? Not all poor people beat theri kids. You can't deny people the joy of having a baby. the problem with this situation is that she was investigated before by child services and nothing was done. That is typical of Social Services. What america needs is a better social services system.
God Bless Texas!
Jay...come on, ask that little girl if 99 is enough to keep her safe.
way too harsh, murderers get less time.
two words: BIRTH CONTROL
Birth control is what the Republicans want to take away. If it happens, it will be even worse!
Where was the father when all this was happening?! Oh?! Fathers are considered unnecessary, unwelcome, and obsolete now. NOT!!!!!!
99 years is not long enough.