By The Associated Press

Published: Friday, October 12, 2012, 7:04 p.m.
Updated: Friday, October 12, 2012

DALLAS — A Dallas woman who beat her 2-year-old daughter and glued the toddler's hands to a wall was sentenced on Friday to 99 years in prison by a judge who described his decision as a necessary punishment for a brutal, shocking attack.

State District Judge Larry Mitchell pronounced the sentence for Elizabeth Escalona at the end of a five-day hearing. Prosecutor Eren Price, who originally offered Escalona a plea deal for 45 years, had argued that she now thought the 23-year-old mother deserved life.

Mitchell said his decision came down to one thing.

“On Sept. 7, 2011, you savagely beat your child to the edge of death,” Mitchell said. “For this you must be punished.”

The beating left Jocelyn Cedillo in a coma for a couple of days.

Escalona's other children told authorities their mother attacked Jocelyn over potty training problems. Police say she kicked her daughter in the stomach, beat her with a milk jug, then stuck her hands to an apartment wall with an adhesive commonly known as Super Glue.

Jocelyn suffered bleeding in her brain, a fractured rib, multiple bruises and bite marks, a doctor testified. Some skin had been torn off her hands, where doctors also found glue residue and white paint chips from the apartment wall.

Escalona pleaded guilty in July to one count of felony injury to a child.

Price said Escalona would be eligible to apply for parole in 30 years.

Mitchell could have sentenced Escalona to anywhere from probation to life in prison. A sentence as long as 99 years is rare for felony injury to a child cases in Texas, but not unheard of.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, about 2,100 inmates are serving prison sentences for felony injury offenses involving a child, elderly or disabled victim.

Just fewer than 5 percent of those inmates are serving sentences of 99 years or more, including life.

Escalona's five children, including Jocelyn and a baby born after the attack, are in the care of their grandmother, Ofeila Escalona.

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