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| Injured Baby…… |
A mother who admitted that she glued her
toddler’s hands to a wall and beat her to a coma faces a sentencing
hearing today in a Dallas courtroom. Elizabeth Escalona, 23,
pleaded guilty to injury to a child in July. She faces up to life in
prison for her crimes but is also eligible for deferred adjudication
probation.
State District Judge Larry Mitchell will decide her sentence following testimony at the Frank Crowley Courts Building.
Police say she was frustrated with 2-year-old Jocelyn Cedillo because of a “potty training issue.”
Besides using super glue to stick her to the wall at their Love
Field-area apartment, she also kicked her in the stomach and hit her
with a milk jug.
The abuse in September 2011 left the little girl in a coma for two days at Children’s Medical Center, with extensive bruising, brain swelling, fractured bones, swollen intestines, bruised lungs and an injured liver.
On the day Jocelyn was injured, Escalona wrote on a Facebook page: “Why does God put obstacles in my life?” and changed her profile photo to one of her and Jocelyn.
Escalona and Jocelyn…
One of the Jocelyn’s siblings described the girl “pooping in her pants” before Escalona dragged her by her feet from the kitchen to another part of the apartment, police records show.
Police records show that Jocelyn’s siblings told investigators that their mother kicked the girl in the stomach, hit her with a jug of milk, a belt and a shoe. They said Escalona then put glue on Jocelyn’s hands and glued them to the wall.
Escalona’s mother rushed Joselyn to the hospital after Escalona
called her, crying and hysterical, according to police records. The
woman found Joselyn unresponsive on the floor beside a bed at a
northwest Dallas apartment.
The girl has recovered from her injuries. She and her siblings were taken into state custody after their mother’s arrest.
What she deserves…Aluu Community…I cried when I read this story
Evidence photos shown this morning show little Jocelyn with bruises,
cuts and bite marks all over her body shortly after she was brought to
Children’s Medical Center Dallas.
Some of her hair had been pulled out and there was glue in her
eyelashes and on her hands. Also on her hands was white paint chips that
came off the wall from which she was glued. Chipped blue nail polish
could be seen on her fingers. Rulers were used to measure the injuries
and the size of the toddler. Jocelyn’s back measured just six inches wide.
Dr. Amy Barton, a child abuse pediatrician who
worked at the hospital at the time, testified about the injuries. Asked
what was remarkable about the injuries, she began to cry. “The entire picture was very shocking,” Barton said. “I
see a lot of children that are abused so I have become somewhat
hardened but this was one of the most shocking things that I’ve seen.”
As a Dallas police detective testified later in the morning, evidence
photos were shown of Escalona’s apartment. The photos were taken during
a search of the apartment after Joselyn was hospitalized.
On the kitchen counter, police spotted a green container of super
glue. On a nearby wall, they photographed two small handprints.
Investigators cut the section of wall out and it was presented here in
court today.
Ofelia Escalona looked directly at Judge Larry Mitchell as she told him that she failed her daughter as a mother. “I wish I had done more to protect my daughter. I take responsibility for what I didn’t do to help her.”
The grandmother testified against her daughter, who has admitted to
gluing her toddler’s hands to a wall and also biting and beating 2-year
old Jocelyn Cedillo. The girl was rushed to a hospital last year, but
prosecutors pointed out her mother, Elizabeth Escalona did not show up.
“Do you know where Elizabeth was all day while her daughter was in that hospital bed, no” a
prosecutor asked. “Escalona, who is a mother of five pleaded guilty to
felony injury to a child charges. prosecutors are seeking 45 years in
prison, but a judge could opt for deferred probation. The woman’s mother
begged for mercy as she left the witness stand.
“I am asking you sir, for probation. My daughter needs to work to help support these children. She is no monster.” Later, a therapist also testified for the defense about Escalona’s life, filled with homelessness, drugs and domestic violence. “Every relationship she has been in has been abusive,” Graciela Montali, said.
The therapist told the judge that she too believes Escalona, with
help can be productive. But, the woman admitted to prosecutor, Eren Price that Escalona has never really been remorseful about the horror she inflicted on her child.
“What has Elizabeth taken responsibility for in her life? Unfortunately, she has never taken control of her life”, the therapist said.
The sentencing phase continues Wednesday
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