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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.
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I'm a mom of 3, so sad that the kids will lose the real mom, too painful for the kids. I hope realization, by the mom, series of therapy and forgiveness by the justice system hoping that she will reconcile with the kids in several years time, learning lessons will still be present in this situation...
When will the criminal justice sentence work the same for all people. If you are African American or Latin American you get more time.. I can't believe how people bring Obama into this. Child abuse has been here forever..
Unfortunately, if you are African American or Latin American, you are more likely to be involved in crime. For whatever reason these two groups, particularly African Americans, is where the crime rate per 1,000 is way off the scale.
Mandatory sterilization should have been part of the sentence.
In 30 years, when and if she's finall released from prison, she'll be post-menopausal and thus, sterile..
I hate to see young people sent to prison for a long period of time, as it completely destroys any hope for a better future.
However, this poor thing seemed to be nothing but a baby producing machine that was going to simply continue pumping out messed up kids. Our ghettos and "hoods" are already filled up with enough crazy people and messed up people. They overcrowd our prisons, ruin our schools, and cause problems for everyone.
I hate to see it, but I guess the long prison sentence is needed.
great now she has 99 years of free government services food clothing shelter education medical for the rest of her life. Nice and if get paroled she will be free to roam in our society and hardly anyone would care, but at the same time we are demanding that hard working people who are just trying to make it better for their family, have never been trouble with the law or our society are being forced to leave our country because they do not have the proper paperwork. So ask yourself who would want living next to your children!!!!!!!
The funny thing is there are people here .who blame Obama for what this lady did .LOL
I agree.. This sentencing is a modern day lynching. She should get time but 99 years? I wonder how much time she would have got if she had blond hair and blue eyes..
Open minded NOT. It is about time a judge started standing up for the children. Take your racist rant someplace else you are wasting it on this monster
Read your local metro newspaper and see which group shows up most of the time in the crime stats. You can put your race card away. It expired a long time ago.
I mean, forreal? I'm a biracial woman who certainly recognizes racism in the justice system, but this freak put an innocent child into a COMA and glued her to a wall! Give me a physical break!
Sentencing, Texas Style. Everything's always bigger in Texas.
All neck tats should include sterilization. A package deal.
I agree, total trash.
Good. I hope she gets her a$s kicked everyday in there and lives a horrible, tortured life.
23 YEARS OLD – 5 CHILDREN
Does anyone find the above fact somewhat disturbing. Not to sound racist but are we as honest hardworking taxpayers supposed to foot the bill every time this brainless individual decides to spread?
When Rudy Gulliani took over as Mayor of NYC, one of his first moves was to install "quality of life" rules and place welfare recipients on work assignments. Maybe the State of Texas should've placed this individual on garbage patrol and park cleanup so at least cover some of the costs of the taxpayers.
23 years old, 5 children and NO HUSBAND. Society is better off with her in prison.
Wonder how many Baby Daddies???
I agree with you. Perhaps they should have given her some time in jail, probation for many years, taken aways her ability to have kids and to adopt them as well. Instead she wil be taken space in jail from ppl that murder dozens or ppl and should not be free.
Thank God Obama continues to invite them in and pay them to propogate.
So true, because of course this one woman is representative of all hispanics.
Wow, you're really a genius. Yes, she nearly killed this child because she's hispanic! How could I have thought she was just some violent freak, when the truth was staring me in the face all the time.
Also, child abuse certainly did not exist prior to Obama emigrating to the US from his Kenyan homeland.
If only she had been a white lady named Andrea Yates, she could of killed all 5 of her kids and only done 6 years. That also happened in Texas too. Must be nice to have a case of the "whites", I mean "insanities".
It would be fair if people of all races got sentenced like this. Unfortunately that's not the case. People of color get more time for the same crime. Who is the monster? Justice needs to be consistent. If her name was Becky, she'd be out in 5 years..
If her name was Becky she would need an id to vote and a drivers license if she got pulled over
I don't agree. People who like to play victim make this claim all the time and it just isn't true. What this woman did was beyond heinous and anyone who behaved this way, whatever their name was, would receive a harsh sentence, which is exactly what this monster deserves. The headline only talks about glue on the hands but read the details of years of abuse and the fact the child was beaten into a coma. That is why this woman is going to jail, not because she isn't white. Get a grip.
Seriously? That is your take on the story? You think she should've been shown leniency or better would've have gotten it if she were white? Amazingly stupid comment.
Crimes like this have no color. this is a child,unable to defend him/herself. Anyone who brutalizes a child,no matter to what degree,should be locked up for life.
May the punishment fit the crime!
It's not a racial thing. She took the stand herself against the advice of her attorney. The truth came out when she whined about HER pain and suffering with no mention of the baby's.
In responce to "if her name was Becky....This isn't about race! This is about a terrifying woman who could have killed a child. Those who hide a crime as horrifying as this to a child and blame it on racism are truly the racists themselves. If you really feel that way, go get some federal aid, spend it on tattoos and glue. Eat the glue and go to the ER and get free medical care. Don't worry, it's paid for by people like me.
99 years is not enough, how about 199 years, not only were the tax payer's supporting, this animal, but now, we have to continue to support her in jail... there's alot of people who have been abuse at one point or another in there lives, but, they don't go around beating or killing there children.. this is a bad seed of a human, if you can call her a human beign...
seems a better punishment would be to glue her hands to the wall in the prison each morning and then rip them off in time for dinner and repeat.... Oh yeah lots of potty time while glued to the wall
War on women!
They should give that POS the electric chair...set on medium-rare.