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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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Cool tattoo and piercings though...I guess the kids became an intolerable inconvenience. Why have kids if you are going to treat them like this? Or is this what not practicing birth control looks like? 99 years....wow!
Can she get pregnant in jail?......
Not if she is glued tight.
Not me ^^^^.
I hope the kids are safe with the grandmother. There are times when the abuse problem is genetically passed onward.
You most be a scientist.... or christen scientist. That statement is wrong.
they should give those kind of sentences to drug dealers
no they shouldn't
Yeah! Throw the CEOs of Glaxxo Welcome and Walgreens Pharmacies in jail for 99 years! A decade of obscene Oxycontin profits should be punished accordingly.
She gets 99 years but the perv Sandusky molests 10 boys and he only gets 30-60 years. Our system is sooooo screwed up. I think she should def do some time but 99 years is rediculous.
Thank U that what she deserve
What a disgrace in the name of mother she is.......being a parent myself I am trying to understand how can a mother do such a thing to her 2.5 yr child ?? The more you read the article the more comes up, she glued her, beat her, struck her in the head and the best part is that this blot in the name of mother had already produced 4 children's and was again pregnant ?? I am just trying to think about that kid and tears are filling into my eyes............
Can she get pregnant in jail?
How does a 23 year have 5 children?! Did she start having 'em when she was 9? For doing this to a baby, she doesn't deserve mercy; she deserves to burn in hell!
My guess is they wanted to make sure she doesn't get parole anytime in the near future. I support that. I do believe in rehabilitation but I also believe there are some things that can not be fixed. A mother who would harm her child in any way much less the horrific way this mother did is not redeemable.
Who raised the mother that glued the child to the wall? Grandmom? Isn't there a metaphore here out of the frying pan into the fire? Sure, she called, but where did the abuse habit come from? When society decides to elevate their conscious level and realize people are brought up by parents who have no clue about raising children maybe, just maybe we will provide help to people of a more constructive and humane manner and fix the problem instead of hide it under the proverbial rug
Please keep her without parole until her "baby machine" is too old to work anymore! Either that, or sterilize her before you let her out again! Irresponsible, stupid and violent people should not be allowed to breed! Now we have another 5 welfare mouths that the middle class will be forced to feed! I bet she isn't even here legally or at least an anchor baby!
Whatta monster!!!! 99 years wasn't enough!!
#1) That poor child. Her mother got what she deserves and then some. Jail is too good for her.
#2) Five children and she's 23? No evolutionary difference between that piece of trash and a rabbit. Absolutely disgusting. How much do you want to be she was on some sort of government assistance for her irresponsible behavior? Food Stamps, Welfare, WIC, Medicaid? Paid for by all the rest of us, of course. Sterilization, anyone?
Five kids at 23. Probably all different fathers. I hope DHS didn't put the kids back into their grandmothers home before checking her out, after all, she raised the kids mom and abuse is usually a vicious circle that in many cases because the abuser has been abused. And, yes she should be sterilized!
Mr. Kennedy...I applauded you...maybe (JAC) can read your post and get a life. Have a great day.
The grandmother was given all 5 kids..........Part of the 47%