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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
i do not understand the responders here regarding what they believe to be excessive punishment. When the child she beat is whole again then we can adjust her term, oh wait her child is a permenant brain trauma case that will need LIFETIME care at the public expense. She should have been jailed for life.
Oops, sorry, Bernie Madoff did get 150 years...
Casey Anthony went free and this person gets 99 years????
Don't blame the people of Texas for a jury in Florida doing something stupid. This woman deserves the years she got. Casey Anthony probably murdered her baby, but since people in Florida did somethng stupid, she'll never have to pay for it.
I guess every state is different otherwise the outcome be explain. A mother who kill her child is out free and one that beaten her child to brain injury to a coma gets 99 years. Can anyone explain how the systems works???
Yes 99 years is excessive. Crazy really. But how can you approach this crime objectively. Beating a little girl period, let alone gluing her to a wall. Evil.
That's it for me- I'm finished with trying to figure out why a mother would beat and torture her child till near death.
It's too much for my brain to even try to understand. There are too many criminally insane people in this world,
I'll put it away in a mental file. I am sincerely hoping, this young girl will have a chance to heal and live a good life
in spite of her beginnings in hell.
Where is the death penalty when you need it?
She must be mental, second chance... Pfffff!
Animals
Now that's thinking.... Put the damaged kids in the hands of the one who created the first monster. And the trash spreads....
Not excessive.
It's about time one of these abusers got what they deserved.
I believe justice was serve in this case.
I believe if there is hope the person can be rehabilitated there should be a meaningful opportunity for parole. I think we need to look closely at what our aim is when we are sentencing people to sentences that will exceed a normal person's lifespan.
You obviously don't have children. The kind of person who can do something like this to a helpless child has given up her rights to live among a civilized society. There is a complete lack of soul in a person who can act this way. When you have children, you will understand.
She will NOT change she would only end up killing a child if given the chance she has NO SOUL
Agreed.
Ms. Escalona replicated the environment she grew up in. So to the knuckle-draggers she should be tossed away and forgotten.
A better investment would be to address the cause of dysfunction rather than the symptom.
Do you sense prejuditory?
99 years? Come on, can we think about this and be reasonable or do we all become hysterical at the mention of 'the children Oh the children.' She lost it and the kids should be pulled from the home. A sentence of 1-2 years might be appropriate but 99? When the average rapist serves 5 and the average murderer serves 7? Spare me- and send this judge back to law school.
Child rapists, murderers, and child abusers should all be executed.
And, "Professor," I hope that you could be reverted into the form of a young child so that a bltch like this defendant could torture you. Maybe then you would actually care about justice. No one is crying "The children, oh the children."
You are way to stupid to be a professor... who are you kidding
99 years is excessive. A few years would have been fair. Im not suporting her actions, but, frustration while being a parent does happen.
She definitely does not deserve to be executed.
Your reasons make sense but every states set their own laws for its citizens.
I think there is a typo in the article. It should be 990 years.
Amen!
For someone of your status, your reasons is less compassionate. I think the judgement is good since this one did not get away. This one is prosecuted with an injury child. The Casey Anthony case did not prosecuted the mother who kill her child but lets her off free of murder charges. Where is justice?
I'm confused, the grandmother who asked that her daughter ONLY get probation has custody of ALL 5 children!!!???
I guess request as such by the grandmother should not be granted. I am glad the judge made a good decision. The grandmother will have to care for these 5 children with the states help.