Grandmother Of Girl Who Had Hands Glued Defends Daughter
DALLAS (AP/CBSDFW) -- A Dallas woman who admitted beating her 2-year-old daughter and gluing her hands to a wall was a troubled teen.
Elizabeth Escalona faces from probation to life in prison, but prosecutors are seeking a 45-year prison sentence. She pleaded guilty in July to felony injury to a child.
Police say the 23-year-old mother attacked Jocelyn Cedillo in September 2011 because she was mad about potty training problems.
At the sentencing hearing Tuesday, some authorities testified that Escalona was known to be in a gang when she was a teenager and was sent to juvenile detention after she harassed her mother.
But her mother, Ofelia Escalona, who was originally called as a prosecution witness, asked the judge for a sentence of probation.
On the stand Ofelia Escalona spent most of her testimony apologizing for her own shortcomings as a mother.
She claimed her nearly useless husband molested all her daughters, including Elizabeth. On cross-examination she admitted Elizabeth hadn't told her that until Sunday. Elizabeth went to live with her father and was pregnant with the first of her five children at age 14.
It was Ofelia who took little Jocelyn to the hospital after the toddler's hands were glued to a wall. She says the girl is healthy today and pleaded directly with the judge to give Elizabeth probation.
She said her daughter "made a mistake. She's not a monster. She needs help."
"I am asking, sir, for probation on behalf of my daughter. She needs to work, help support these children. And she can be fixed," she told the court.
Testimony was to continue Wednesday. It is unknown if Elizabeth Escalona will take the stand in her own defense.
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