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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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you deserve all 99 years and more, hurting a helpless child. you were probably a brat yourself as a child. youll get whats coming to you.
Who do you suppose you are posting to? This woman is not going to be reading your post. Plus, you have zero information on what has happened to this mother during her life. I am so tired of uninformed heartless, holier than thou know- it- alls who vent their rage on strangers anonymously in these blogs.
Go Tristin!
Mary, So if I had a horrible upbringing, I should be able to beat the heck out of you? I forgot, you are a typical liberal. So the answer is no, its not okay to hurt you or your family, but everyone else is okay. Sorry DA, I lost my head(smile)
Reply to Mary. I understand Tristin' s reaction, I do not understand yours. First, here lots of people write to an ideal recipient (in this case this disgusting "mother".) Second, how do you know that Tristin doesn't know Escalona's past history, an easy history to be imagined, by the way?
You should be focused more on what this sick woman did instead of blaming "heartless" Tristin.
You are a ridiculous brainless person.
To Shawn. I'm almost a liberal, I mean...I'm an open minded person, but I do not like silliness and superficiality.
I love values and, to me, a mother has to be a MOTHER.
Ultimately I'm an open minded person using common sense. I think Mary is either Escalona's mother, sister, or whatever, or she is simply out of touch.
Ok but......
A LOT of pediphiles and murderers get lesser sentence than this girls is getting.
I agree... Justice system doesn't make sense
True....so perhaps it's time to review THOSE sentences rather than hers.
I agree... Justice system doesn't make sense. This is way to severe a penalty.
Sx – Agreed kill them all. Blows my mind that you people defend a woman the glued her babies hands to the wall then beat her into a coma.
With all this hullaballoo about 99 years jail time, maybe she ought to be super-glued at home and see if she can hold her potty that long!
The woman is deranged and belongs in jail for what she did. However, people get lesser sentencing for murder than what she got for this. I suspect racism was a factor.
I agree. She should do real jail time and never have custody of her children again, but 99 years seems excessive compared to what other sentences are.
On the other hand, perhaps there finally is a judge who'll give monsters the punishment they deserve rather than the namby-pamby slaps on the wrist we've all become accustomed to hearing about.
Racism was not a factor, she was sentenced in a state (Texas) that makes sure this will not happen again by this woman. Murder conviction in Texas will get you life without Parole or Death. So think it through before you make a comment about Racism. I bet you are a minority also.
Texas–too bad they can't be part of the United States of Pakistan
sick of the MSM feeding you at the trough go to https://www.facebook.com/TOSOTC to see articles videos and posts that give you "the other side of the coin".
10 years and sterilized ? are you kidding – grow a pair please ! it's about time proper punishments were handed out – let me take a guess , you probably want to save trees too ! liberal pansy-ass nonsense .
No, 99 years is excessive. An appropriate sentence would have been 20 years without parole so that the child would be an adult when she got out. Texas justice rivals that of Asian countries.
No. They would not feed you in an Asian jail. God luck with that.
In China she could never have more than one kid. Also, in China she might have condemned to forced labor. Forced labor doesn't mean knitting for more than 4 hours a day.
Oh yah "Open Minded", dont't forget to sue the glue manufacturer and the ER and the police for not helping yoy withYOUR problems. Might as well sue social services too while you are at it. Oddly enough, there will be a "lawyer" out there who will take your case and run it up a flag pole.
She was pregnant with kid number six. She was 23 years old. There is far more to this story than is being reported. And yes, I would bet the farm that there are mental issues involved. It would be nice for a change for the powers that be to recognize that some folks should NEVER have children. Child welfare really dropped the ball here.
This one needs to be mop handled
99 years wasn't long enough.
Another anchor baby having babies?
She should be glued to the prison walls for rest of her life.
I've taken Texas off my list of states to visit. You never know what the penalty for a speeding ticket would entail.
ha ha ha
Are you somehow comparing what this crazy woman did with a traffic ticket?
So you disagree with her sentence?
Good, stay where you at. I just hope you're not in my state you DA. Gluing an babies hands to the wall and beating here within an inch of her life is okay with you. Yeah, you can equate that with a speeding ticket. Scares the hell out of me that people like you are breathing the same air as me.
For our of staters, it's $100,000 per mph over. Or they'll ship you to Louisiana.
So your point is the sentence for gluing a two year old to a wall and beating her was too severe? Nice use of "reason and logic."
Don't worry! We don't target whites!
@reason&logic – I just hope you're not molesting and abusing young kids. And please stay away from Texas and the other 49 states in the US, especially kids.
Thank You in advance!
This is one of the 1st sentences I have heard for child abuse, indeed, most heinous crimes which deals fairly for the victims of crime. I live in one of the Nanny States on the East coast where heinous crime and primal people are considered "victims." This woman probably would have been given 5 years with time off for "good" behavior and then provided with a therapist no working person could afford, middleclass housing most working people can't afford, an income for herself on TANF and the 5 children, medical and dental care people can no longer afford and she could continue getting pregant for pleasure and abusing her spawn at taxpayer expense. You ROCK TX!