"Baby Lollipops" Mom Appeals Death Sentence To State Supreme Court

MIAMI (CBS4) – The mother at the center of South Florida's infamous "Baby Lollipops" murder case will have her appeal heard by the state's Supreme Court.

In a document dated July 19th, the Third District Court of Appeals transferred the appeal of Ana Maria Cardona to the high court.

Cardona was given a death sentence last month after she was found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated abuse in the beating death of her 3-year-old son Lazaro Figueroa.

During her sentencing on June 10th, Cardona made a statement in which she said she wished she could change her life and the life of her son. Speaking in Spanish, Cardona said she wished her son "could have been blessed with a better mother, one who would have protected him and always been there for him."

She explained how she was addicted to drugs and said she was a coward.

"I failed at the most important job a mother can have which is protect her children. I have spent the past 21 years feeling guilty for everything that happened to my son Lazarito and nothing can replace the life of my son Lazarito. Nothing can replace the pain that I feel inside me and there's nothing that could replace the loss of a son. Nothing exists that could alleviate my pain."

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Reemberto Diaz wasn't swayed by her statement. He said during sentencing that even at the end, Cardona did not accept responsibility for her role in killing and mistreating Lazaro and instead blamed her former girlfriend Olivia Gonzalez for killing the child.

Last June's outcome was not the first time she's received the death penalty.

Cardona was convicted and sentenced to death in 1992, but the Florida Supreme Court then overturned the conviction due to procedural problems. After hearing the evidence against her for a second time, a new jury also found her guilty.

Figueroa was killed in November of 1990. His body was found dumped beneath a hedge in the yard of a Miami Beach home. The boy had been starved, beaten and burned. The boy, whose identity was not known when his body was discovered, was given the name "Baby Lollipops" because of the tiny white t-shirt he was found bearing an array of lollipops on the front.

Figueroa weighed only 18 pounds when he was murdered, half the weight of what he should have been.