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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
Intellectually and physically inferior is no way to go through, kid. I would own you in debate and the playground. Uneducated racist teabillies are less intelligent and important than what I leave every morning between breakfast and lunch.
Kudos to Texas land of equal opportunity and justice. If this had been a woman in any other state she would have got off with no prison time and perhaps some hospital time and loads of sympathy. If this had been a man in the same situation he would have been behind bars forever. Don't mess with the law in Texas!
Finally. An american woman is held to the same standard as a man. There is hope for equality after all.
Good and Hopefully she'll rot in hell when she's done in prison!
Though she should serve some time as punishment I find it very funny that at the same time this lady is being put away for 99 years. The US is trying to get Rapists and Murders out of jail even sooner than 25 years. Hmm either way looks like the privatized jail system is getting some more free labor, and the wheels keep rolling forward...
99 years is excessive. I hope her attorney is successful with the appeal. I also hope she gets the help she needs behind bars and can do something positive with her life inside and outside. Lacking brain damage, permanent mental or physical handicap or disorder or permanent disfigurement, 30 – 50 years seems appropriate. This wasn't murder, attempted murder or manslaughter. If you want to find crimes worthy of 99 years then watch the Biography Channel's "I Survived".
Maybe the kid didn't die but seems to me she didn't care if she lived or not. She had brain injuries. I have a daughter this age. She got what she deserved!
Excessive!?!?!? are you serious? This "mother" scarred this poor little girl for life. She is clearly a monster and I hope she never gets parole and rots in jail.
I don't think its excessive at all. I would vote for the death penalty, but that would be too quick. No.. 99 years is enough and I hope the other inmates know exactly what crime she committed to land her there.
Not excessive but I'm sure she'll be out when she's eligible for parole though. It would have been more productive to sentence her to hard labor, and give her child any money she makes.
The woman is trash, but that doesn't justify 30 years before possibility of parole. It also bothers me to hear prosecutors throw around terms such as "pure evil." After she destroys this woman's life, I invite her to enlighten me as to what "pure evil" is, as I'm sure it will be a fascinating discussion. When Texas sentences 23-year-olds to 99 years in prison, they might as well stop calling it a "correctional" facility and just call it a human disposal system.
23 yo with 5 kids I think says A LOT!
Troll alert
just trying to get a rise
The only thing that is "excessive" about this sentence is that tax money that is going to be used to keep this horrble creature alive! Hopefully another prisoner will stuff a sharp peice of plastic into her wind pipe and put her into the ground where she belongs asap!! Or an eye for an eye and she will be beat into a coma but hopefully not pull through like her innocent child.
Excessive? You must not be a parent. Otherwise you would completely understand why the sentence fits the crime.
99 yearss is excessive? Yes. We should have given her 15 minutes and a bullet in the head. She is a monster, and has no business breathing the same air as human beings.
This woman isn't a Mother / Mum, a mum is somebody you turn to for help and support. This is someone who should never have been allowed t procreate. I'm glad she is away an I hope the prison system rips her apart. The child left behind I now wish all the best in the world. I hope they finds happiness in their life an love from everybody who supports an helps them.
Hope her parole is denied over and over again. I also hope some mothers in jail get a hold of her
jesus 5 kids n shes 23 how abot gluingher legs togetha
I am glad that she was convicted. However, the 99 year sentence is very extreme considering that murderers and rapists get less time in prison.
We cannot forget that, if she had five children, she probably had been mistreating all five and got caught for the one. I think the 99 year sentence will send the necessary message out there that you cannot beat little children like that and get away with it. Now if we could only begin giving life sentences or preferably the death penalty swiftly and consistently to pedophiles, perhaps this too would be the deterrent our children so desperately need to be safer in this society.
hope she nevers gets out of prison
Five kids at 23 to this monster of a mother? I love human rights and wouldn't trade them in but sometimes it's a shame you can't force birth control on certain people.
"Scared the kid for life" Are you serious? The kids 3, wont remember it 2 years from now. 99 years is way out of line.
Phil, I'm guessing you are not a qualified doctor to make a statement claiming that they won't remember the incident. Childhood memories start forming around three to four years of age so yes, some of her children will remember the incident. Furthermore, whether the child she beat remembers or not, she will have the abnormal brain scans to prove the incident took place. Lastly, I don't know too many murder victims who remember the crime committed against them, mainly because they are dead. This hardly absolves the victimizer of blame; we prosecute whether the victim remembers or not. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you that 99 years is excessive, just your logic supporting your claim.
It seems to me she should have her tubes tied so that she doesn't have other kids and get sentenced to something like 25 years.
I don't see why the public should feed her for 99 years.