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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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So, no word on whether or not she'll be spending those 99 years with her face super glued to her back side like i suggested?
99 years? Must have been due to lobbying from the private prisons in Texas looking to make a little extra cash. This is certainly a terrible crime against a helpless child but no one wins here except the people profiting from people in prison.
No, her five kids (at 23!) and the thirteen more she'd have popped out win here. Now they have a chance to not be clones of this monster.
Yeah. She took an innocent life, her own child that she was in charge of protecting, and brutally destroyed it. She is an animal, 99 years is a gift. If it were up to me it would be the death penalty.
Aezel, while I understand your rage, are you seriously advocating for the death penalty? That sounds a little Talibani to me. Why would you want to impose sharia law? We are beyond that.
Looks like some people could commit murder & get a lesser sentence. I don't expect this to stand.
If this POS had been coathangered before birth then we would not be wasting more money for 3 hots and a cot for 30 plus years and the additional cash to take care of her offspring that would not have existed.
This is because not only did she glue the 2 year old to the wall and beat her which is horrible she caused a "SEVERE BRAIN INJURY." Did you read that part? That 2 year old child in the picture has a neck brace and is on a breathing tube.
This sentence is further evidence of the structural bankruptcy of the US correctional model. Are we to believe that social scientists in the correctional field could do nothing - take no personalized harsh but fair measures - to correct this woman in, say, five years? Are we to believe that the US taxpayer should support this woman for the rest of her life?
The grandmother should not have been awarded the children. This is where the abuse started!
your right, it is a conspiracy that they would give her such a large sentence for brutally torturing a two year old. call batman...
She looks like a gang wench. This woman is evil and needs at least 30 years (minimum) in prison. What concerns me is whether these 5 kids will get the chance they need by living with the grandmother. The apple doesn't always fall far from the tree.
@deserthiker: Exactly what I was thinking. Why is a judge saying that someone is 'pure evil'? That doesn't sound like a legal term to me. Private corporations are getting rich on retribution based justice and society is poorer for it.
get a license to drive, get a license to go fishing, get a license to hunt, get a license to open up a business and WHEN will we ask ourselves that it is time to subject prospective parents to get a license to raise a child, knowing of so many horror stories such as this one.
You have God involved here, but it is a good thought, except a better idea is to get relatives signed up to be more involved in raising all children they are related to. A mothers right to raise a child how she sees fit is just plain wrong. A lot of mothers are just destroyed emotionally from bad childhoods and hence are horrible to their children (speaking from painful experience first hand via the wacked woman I married). The breakup of the extended family leaves no one to protect kids from the bad parent. Mothers abuse children 3x more often than fathers.
she should get the death penalty!!! but first she must endure the same torture she did to her daughter
then the death penalty!!! there is no excuse for what she did...
I have been wondering the same thing for many years. I have taught parenting classses, have a master's degree, and am 70 years old. I have witnessed so many uneducated parents who just do what their parents did (even when they hated it) or whatever comes into their heads. Parenting classes, dealing with a baby and toddlers in a supervised setting and a final exam should be just as critical to our culture as driver training classes, driving experience and an exam are for a driver's license.
anyone that hurts a child intentionally like this whoooooooooooooore, desrves a sentance that is massive. She should also be steralized...clearly has the inability to treat defenseless children the right way
I agree wiht your comments.............too bad you have an ignorant screen name though. it really takes away from the serious nature of your statements.
And you need a bullet in the brain, in the interests of humanity.
See. I can say stupid stuff too.
If you are inclined to abuse people just join the US army they will give a a free hand in harming as many people you want , then you can even urinate on their corpses.
5 children by the age of 23???!!!!! No to mention the "lovely" tattoo in her neck......
Interesting that a first degree murder conviction often comes with much time and parole at 7 years.
It is strange, I was wondering about that too. Think about it....cold blooded killers spend less time behind bars.
Something is wrong with that.
Much "less" time.......
I vote for stoning in a public square over life in prison. Make a game to raise money to help the beaten child. $20 to throw a rock at her.
i will be the first one to throw that stone!!!
Pharisees... Just like I thought.
99 years is a light sentence for someone with such an obvious disregard for their children.
I am conflicted on the sentence. I hate what she did... deplore it... think she should never be around her kids again. But 99 years for this, when we have child rapists, murderers, etc get off with 15 years or so... We need to be more consistent in the sentencing in this country. It is like that couple whose snake killed their baby in fL.. They both got 25 years... why... that was not something deliberate- they are just a young, ignorant couple that legally owned a snake (ick) – that got out. Yet we threw them in prison and put 3 kids in a terrible state system there all because a prosecutor wanted to make a name for themselves and a jury was mad that casey anthony got off the week before.
Great, the other children are in the custody of their grandmother, the woman who "raised" this monster! Wow, talk about frying pan into the fire!
That was my first thought!! This woman produced the Monster that beat her child this way, and even spoke out in her defense. It is so WRONG to put the children with her!!
99 years sentence but eligible for parole in thirty, some thing is wrong with the system in Texas, she should do the whole time. Her kids now have a chance at a better life
They should appeal that. 99 years? Are you kidding me. When people who murder folks get less time than that? They should have given her no more than 5 years, and then take away her children. No need to do what they did.
I agree. For profit prisons drive the need to fill them up, and keep them full. So we will see longer sentences for crimes, simply because they want to make money, and get slave labor in the process.
People better wake up!!
how does Sandusky get 30-60 years and she gets 99
Very good question Voice of reason. It's a shame, Sandusky should have received 99yrs+. Imagine they originally offered Escalona 45 yrs, but then she wanted to fight it. I personally don't think she should have received anything less than what was ultimately given. Guess she got what was coming to her.