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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
I'm glad this woman got no leniency. Enjoy rotting in your cage, you shameful excuse for a human being.
Should this be a surprise?
After all, it IS Texas. If they can't kill you, they do their best to make you wish they had..
"If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."
I say just kill the mom now
Ya'll can say what ya'll want to say but this woman should not have received 99 years for a crime whose minimum punishment is probation. The judge is cold, the woman showed legitimate remorse.
If she did that to your 2 year old little girl, what would you do? If it was my little girl, that woman would be dead right now
She should have been sentenced to a firing squad!
Are you kidding? She beat the child into a coma. The child has a severe brain injury. The Monster Mom's sentence is just.
A lot of people show remorse after the fact. A decent human being would not have let it get past a thought.
You're right, Erik. She should have had HER hands superglued to a wall, and then been subjected to a beating that would have left HER in a coma. Aside from that, the only fitting punishment would be to send her to Huntsville to ride the needle.
As terrible of a crime as this may be, the sentence seems awfully harsh. People get less than 99 years for actual murder...
If she did that to your 2 year old little girl, what would you do? If it was my little girl, that woman would be dead right now!
Everythings bigger in Texas
I'd give her 99 years just for being an Obama supporter. Vote Romney/Ryan!
She didn't get 99 years for gluing her child's hands. She got that sentence for the whole episode of abuse, of which the glue was only a part.
I would have given her death!
Funny how Sandusky- (a man) molests all those people and only gets 30- 60 yrs but she gets 99 ?
Don't get me wrong- I think she deserves it and more- but why do most male murderers/abusers only get 6- 10 yrs in prison for this exact crime?
Sandusky wasn't tried in Texas amigo.
Sandusky was an Obama supporter! Vote Romney/Ryan!
I think they should tie her tubes real tight before they do anything else.....5 kids and she is not even 23....what da fook is this....I am sure you and I are paying for them and her coke too....
I'm completely ok with this. Kudo's to Texas.
Do these wetbacks do anything other than cutting grass in the morning and pop out babys in the evening ...they make me sick
Howdy Kangy, and since when you became a CBP agent and had access to her papers? Or you are just profiling based on her race? I bet you a are a 100% native american, aren't ya?
When Romney is elected none of these illegal wetback Mehicanos will be allowed anywhere near our sacred soil. Vote Romney/Ryan!
I think she should have been glued to a wall and someone beat her to death!!!!! just like she beat that innocent little girl
Amen!
If Obama had a son it would be with his wife, just lik his daughters.
For all those against the admittedly harsh sentence-judges need to be able to use sentences as deterrents.Social media and online press guarantee widespread visibility of this and therefore ,while tough,the deterrent value may prevent anyone from having to issue such a sentence in future.