Elizabeth Escalona, the mother who was found guilty of beating, torturing, and then gluing her 2-year-olds hands to a wall, faces a possible life in prison sentence on Tuesday.
Escalona had become annoyed that her young daughter, Jocelyn Cedillo had not progressed far enough in her potty training, so she decided to beat the child to the point she was left in a coma for two days, with serious brain trauma and several broken bones in Sptember of 2011.
Siblings of the little girl reported to police that their mother had kicked her in the stomach several times and struck her with a jug, and that the results of her bloody hands were due to being glued to a wall. A bottle of super glue taken from the house as well as photos taken of the wall with Jocelyn’s hand prints on them were shown as evidence.
At the Elizabeth Escalona sentencing hearing on Monday, Dr. Amy Barton, who treated Jocelyn, testified that the abuse was “one of the most shocking cases I have ever seen.”
After the incident, Elizabeth had called her mother Ofelia Escalona, reporting that something was wrong with Joceyln. Ofelia and her son went to Elisabeth’s house to find Joceyln struggling to breathe. They began to rush to the hospital but when the two-year-old woke up in the car and said that she was hungry the grandmother thought that she was ok and turned around, further delaying medical help.
Ofelia had admitted through testimony, her daughter has had a violent tendency in the past, often striking Ofelia as she grew up. The police officer that interviewed the 23-year-old mother after the incident, said never once did she ask about the condition of her daughter and only stated several times that she was going to be taking the blame for what happened.
While entering a guilty plea back in July, after confessing to the severe punishment she gave her daughter, a seemingly unremorseful Escalona stated, “I have no comment and only God can judge me. That’s all I got to say.”
The 23-year-old mother was expected to receive her own punishment on Monday, but the Dallas, Texas district judge decided to recess until Tuesday. If Escalona, does not receive a sentence of life in prison, it is expected that she will at least receive a pretty lengthy prison stay.