- @
- Followers:
No Tweets Found
CNN POLITICS ON FACEBOOK » | CNN POLITICS ON TWITTER »
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
On Twitter
@cnnbrk on Twitter
Maybe she should of just had abortions instead of torturing these children.
No, she should have been sterilized.
5 kids?
Meanwhile good loving people wanting to be parents cant have kids...
30 years she will be eligible for parole? She should be eligible in 98 years!
Having children should not be a right. It should be a privilege. With 7 billion people on the planet those are plague numbers and the UN should consider reducing the world population and preventing the wrong types of people from having children. This should be a priority. People like Elle Macpherson, Roger Moore etc should be the ones having lots of children rather than this woman.
Five kids by age 23 and anyone is surprised?
I would love to know more about this womans history. 23 and 5 children. Welfare at its best. She is what this country has in store for itself. Hundreds of thousands breeding like rabbits will break this country . Poorly educated with no future but to repeat the previous generations failures. The U.S is surely on a course of a two tier society. The well off and the poor. Whether we like it or not education is failing miserably in the U.S The only ones that will have a future are those with money and influence.
A "winner" of the "bought the Nazi lie that certain human beings are subhuman" award. But I guess you're proud of what you believe.
I'm not sure what made this girl's mother into an abusive narcissist capable of torturing a toddler. I do note that the minimum sentence, before she can ask for parole, will make her a couple of years older than I am now and beyond childbearing years. Good for the judge! I can't imagine risking another child in her care, even if she gains a conscience sometime in the next 30 years.
Oh great, they are in the custody of the grandmother. I have seen this many times, and it rarely works out well. The theory of the well-meaning CPS people is that the grandmother knows how to raise kids. They are almost always wrong. The grandmother either did not or failed completely to raise the mother in the first place. But, the ignorant laws assume the grandmother is a competent parent.
There are so many situations in which it is generation after generation of failed families and people, and our system just supports the continuation of thisfailure.
only in Texas
Exactly. It's basically like a different country at this point.
Texas is not the only place where parents abuse their children.
99 years for this woman, but 30-60 for Sandusky? Awkward.
Chances are she'll leave prison alive. Better than his chances.
Maybe it's just my limited experience, but I have never seen a person with anything written on their neck that looked or acted like a good person. Gang-bangers and skinheads. Cream of the crop. But maybe I don't get out enough.
10,000 percent correct. A tattoo on the hands, neck, or face usually indicates gang affiliation and past criminal activity.
Do what she did to her daughter, and leave her glued to the wall for 99 years.
She has tattoos. Like many violent offenders she had identified herself to us by way of her tattooed skin. It is not profiling. It is justt the truth. Want to catch a criminal then look for tattoos.
Yawn. Come out from under your rock and join us in the real world.
Sorry. It may not fit your multicultural beliefs but is a fact. This has nothing to do with skin color. Ask any law enforcement officer (if you aren't afraid they will smell the drugs you have probably been smoking).
Shame, I shall let all my friends with tattoos know they should start committing crimes instead of being white collar workers, help fit the stereotype.
Glad to know I am not the only one thinking the same thing. I have no sympathy for this woman at all and I think she lost her right to raise her children and deserves a prison sentence. With that said, a life sentence in a case like this seems very extreme. Texas is a scary place on so many different levels.
If you are a criminal....absolutely. That is a good thing.. just sayin
You thing 99 years is excessive for beating a 2 year old nearly to death? What if it was your kid?
I hope she is beaten and abused in prison and dies a horrible death ten times more painful then what she did to her kids. I don't care how she was raised or what happened in her life there is no reason to do anything even close to what she did to a child (a baby). And any of you who think what she did isn't worth 99 years i hope someone does the same evil and cruel things to you.
What a tragedy. For the children, For Grandma, and for this young mother. A girl far too young to have 5 children. As heinous as her actions were I can see how she could lose control over her emotions/actions. Too many, too young, and probably no support from anyone. Also,although CNN mentions that grandma has all the kids( That in itself is going to really test Grandma) There is no mention /update on the state of the childs health at this time. Will she fully recover ?