PA
A woman who admitted beating her toddler daughter and gluing her hands to a wall cried in court as she was ordered to look at photographs of the vile injuries she caused the little girl.
Associated Press report that Elizabeth Escalona, 23, sobbed as prosecutor Eren Price showed a picture of Jocelyn Cedillo - who was just two at the time of the attacks - during the woman's sentencing hearing.
The image showed dozens of red and brown marks on Jocelyn's back, and Eren Price told the woman: "Ms. Escalona, if you can do it, you can look at it."
The prosecutors are seeking a 45 year sentence for Escalona's crimes, which police say include kicking the little girl in the stomach, beating her with a milk jug, and GLUING her hands to a wall with Super Glue.
Escalona's other children told the authorities in Dallas that their mother had attacked Jocelyn because she was not taking to potty training.
The little girl had suffered bleeding in her brain, a fractured rib, bruises and bite marks, and was in a coma. After having her hands glued to the wall, some of her skin had been torn off, and witnesses told the court that paint chips from the wall had been found on her flesh.
When asked what she thought should happen to her for her atrocious attacks on the child, Escalona told the court 'I should be put away' but added 'I also think I should be given a second chance' because 'I am not a monster'.
Escalona had earlier told the court that her five children stressed her and that she needed 'a break'. She admitted she had lied to doctors and others assigned to her case about her home life and lifestyle, but insisted she was 'not a liar' but 'had a hard time trusting people'.
She also admitted that she had been hanging around with gang members and trying marijuana from the age of 11, assaulting her mother at 12 and getting pregnant with her first child at 14. She said she had been drinking and doing drugs after she was released from jail on bond in February, and that she had been using marijuana about twice a day in the time before she attacked Jocelyn.
State District Judge Larry Mitchell will decide Escalona's sentence after the court's closing arguments today. She has already pleaded guilty to injuring Jocelyn, and could now face life in prison.
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