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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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She is going to be absolutely destroyed in prison. Those women will tear her apart the first chance they get.
I can't wait to read that story.
So you advocate the same mentality. Nice
What? This didn't happen in Florida?
Yeah, no kidding. A Pineliss County jury would have found her not guilty; would of thought it was an accident and no proof the mom did it. PFFT
please allow me the pleasure of gluing her head to a railroad track....i will pay my travel expense to and from the great state of tx.
You sound like her evil twin. Enjoy giving pain?
It's people like this that make me lose faith in humanity. How could we allow her to continue to breed? Poor poor children!
See ya, I want you to have fun now. I hope you enjoy the 8×10.
Less time? So she can be pregnant again? No, she has to go out after menxxause or without txbes (I do not not know if it can be mandatory, I do not think so.)
Funny she doesn't loll Glue-ish
correction....she doesn't Look Glue-ish
look the woman should be shot, period. Everyone can make mistakes but no one would go to that level of abuse even in the heat of the moment if they were not evil and they simply do not deserve to be in this world. I normally am not that harsh but there is simply no place in society for her so why do i have to pay for her to rot in jail.
I'd advocate sterilization for people who commit these crimes but I'm sure someone on this post would accuse me of wanting "bigger government"
I agree!! I was shocked this DIDN'T happen in FL, but nonetheless, what this woman did was absolutely inexcusible and quite frankly I don't think she deserves to take another breath, but she got a 99 year sentence and Jerry Sandusky got what? Are you kidding me? She definitely deserves to go down hard for what she did, but I do think her sentence was a bit excessive considering what Child Molestors get? Definitely!!!
neck tattoos....the mark of low class.
she is a monster. we should do to her what she did to her child. we should not house her in prison. just do to her what she did to her kid. she is vicious. she should never see the light of day. i hope she rots in jail. the other inmates will take care of her in prison. good for them.
She won't last a year in prison. She is evil. When you bring a child into the world your first instinct should be to protect them. This woman is an animal. How can that poor child deserve to be beten like that? The problem with this case, besides the obvious aspect that she is insane, is a murderer wouldn't be handed down this sentence.
23 years old...neck tattoo...pierced nose...5 kids. What a piece of trash.
She appears to be acting and trying to make she is sorry in the court video. 5 kids at the age of 22 and then this kind of behavior to a 3 year old kid ? She is a blot in the name of mother and 99 years is well justified for this monster.