Guilty verdict in Texas day-care death
A Texas woman was convicted of murder Tuesday in the death of one of four children who died in a fire at her home day care after she left them alone with hot oil on the stove while she shopped at Target."
Prosecutor: Children left at day care were doomed
All right, let's dig into it:
"Texas woman gets 80 years in deadly day-care fire; Left children alone to go shop; four were killed" by Juan A. Lozano | Associated Press, November 21, 2012
HOUSTON — It had been Jessica Tata’s dream to run a day-care center.
She was soon in over her head, caring for too many kids and taking chances by leaving them alone to run errands. The young woman’s actions ultimately proved fatal: Four children died and three others were injured after a fire broke out at her home day care after she had left them alone to go shopping at Target.
That's an "errand?"
On Tuesday, jurors sentenced the woman to 80 years in prison for the death of one of the children, 16-month-old Elias Castillo. She still faces charges related to the rest of the children....
Tata, 24, worked alone most of the time. Investigators said the February 2011 blaze happened when a pan of oil she had left cooking on the stove ignited.
The same jury that decided her sentence had convicted Tata last week of one count of felony murder. The jury could have sentenced her to five years to life in prison. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, while defense lawyers asked only that jurors not give her an excessive sentence.
She will have to serve 30 years before she is eligible for parole. Tata also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
Jurors deliberated for seven hours over two days. The former day-care owner had no visible reaction after the sentence was announced.
Tata’s lawyers contended she was a good person who loved children but made a terrible mistake. Prosecutors argued she was an irresponsible day care owner who had doomed the children when she left them alone. They said Tata repeatedly left children she was responsible for unsupervised and it was only a matter of time before her actions led to tragedy.
Defense lawyer Mike DeGeurin believes Tata should not have been tried for murder because the deaths were an accident.
‘‘The sentence is not going to fix things. It’s not going to make anybody feel better later on. But the jury has spoken. That’s their sentence,’’ DeGeurin said.
Tata’s family and friends, who declined to comment, testified she had changed since her troubled teenage years, when she pleaded guilty to arson for starting two fires at her high school on the same day.
Are investigators sure it was an accident and a pan of oil left unattended?
Defense lawyers presented expert testimony to argue that a faulty stove or refrigerator may have sparked the blaze.
Prosecutor Steve Baldassano said that while he has sympathy for Tata’s family, she had nobody to blame but herself.
‘‘She was being paid to watch these children. She knew better,’’ Baldassano said. ‘‘It’s not the stove. It’s not the refrigerator. It’s not any parents’ fault. It’s nobody’s fault but her own.’’
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Tata fled to Nigeria but was captured after about a month, returned to the United States in March 2011, and has remained jailed since. She was born in the United States but has Nigerian citizenship....
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Time to find another childcare provider:
Woman on trial for beating daughter
She glued the kid's hands to a wall?
She was soon in over her head, caring for too many kids and taking chances by leaving them alone to run errands. The young woman’s actions ultimately proved fatal: Four children died and three others were injured after a fire broke out at her home day care after she had left them alone to go shopping at Target.
That's an "errand?"
On Tuesday, jurors sentenced the woman to 80 years in prison for the death of one of the children, 16-month-old Elias Castillo. She still faces charges related to the rest of the children....
Tata, 24, worked alone most of the time. Investigators said the February 2011 blaze happened when a pan of oil she had left cooking on the stove ignited.
The same jury that decided her sentence had convicted Tata last week of one count of felony murder. The jury could have sentenced her to five years to life in prison. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, while defense lawyers asked only that jurors not give her an excessive sentence.
She will have to serve 30 years before she is eligible for parole. Tata also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
Jurors deliberated for seven hours over two days. The former day-care owner had no visible reaction after the sentence was announced.
Tata’s lawyers contended she was a good person who loved children but made a terrible mistake. Prosecutors argued she was an irresponsible day care owner who had doomed the children when she left them alone. They said Tata repeatedly left children she was responsible for unsupervised and it was only a matter of time before her actions led to tragedy.
Defense lawyer Mike DeGeurin believes Tata should not have been tried for murder because the deaths were an accident.
‘‘The sentence is not going to fix things. It’s not going to make anybody feel better later on. But the jury has spoken. That’s their sentence,’’ DeGeurin said.
Tata’s family and friends, who declined to comment, testified she had changed since her troubled teenage years, when she pleaded guilty to arson for starting two fires at her high school on the same day.
Are investigators sure it was an accident and a pan of oil left unattended?
Defense lawyers presented expert testimony to argue that a faulty stove or refrigerator may have sparked the blaze.
Prosecutor Steve Baldassano said that while he has sympathy for Tata’s family, she had nobody to blame but herself.
‘‘She was being paid to watch these children. She knew better,’’ Baldassano said. ‘‘It’s not the stove. It’s not the refrigerator. It’s not any parents’ fault. It’s nobody’s fault but her own.’’
********************************
Tata fled to Nigeria but was captured after about a month, returned to the United States in March 2011, and has remained jailed since. She was born in the United States but has Nigerian citizenship....
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Time to find another childcare provider:
Woman on trial for beating daughter
She glued the kid's hands to a wall?
"Mother given 99 years for abuse; Judge calls child’s beating savage" by Nomaan Merchant | Associated Press, October 13, 2012
DALLAS — A Dallas woman who beat her 2-year-old daughter and glued the toddler’s hands to a wall was sentenced Friday to 99 years in prison by a judge who described his decision as a necessary punishment for a brutal, shocking attack....
She got more time than someone who killed someone.
Elizabeth Escalona’s other children told authorities their mother attacked Jocelyn Cedillo due to 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.
She got more time than someone who killed someone.
Elizabeth Escalona’s other children told authorities their mother attacked Jocelyn Cedillo due to 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. Prosecutor Eren Price said Escalona would be eligible to apply for parole in 30 years.
The prosecutor sought to portray Escalona as a liar, a monster, and an unfit mother....
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"Stepmother gets 85 years in boy’s death" by Nomaan Merchant | Associated Press, January 23, 2013
"Stepmother gets 85 years in boy’s death" by Nomaan Merchant | Associated Press, January 23, 2013
DALLAS — A Dallas woman whose 10-year-old stepson died after she denied him water, even as temperatures soared over 100 degrees, was sentenced Tuesday to 85 years in prison.
Tina Marie Alberson did not react as her sentence was announced. She was convicted last week of reckless injury to a child, a second-degree felony, in the July 2011 death of Jonathan James.
Jonathan’s mother, Krista Bishop, and other relatives said they were pleased with the verdict.
‘‘We got what we needed,’’ Bishop told reporters outside the court.
Police had thought Jonathan’s death was heat-related until the medical examiner’s report indicated otherwise.
Alberson, who testified in her own defense, told jurors that she limited Jonathan’s water intake a few times as punishment for misbehaving, and that she saw him drinking water when he wasn’t in ‘‘time-out.’’ She said she saw no sign that he was in medical distress.
The boy’s twin brother, Joseph, now 12, testified that Jonathan repeatedly asked for water and pretended to use the bathroom so that he could sneak a drink from the faucet before their stepmother ordered him out. Joseph James told jurors he was concerned for his brother’s health but was too afraid of Alberson to do anything.
During the sentencing phase, the twins’ maternal grandmother, Sue Shotwell, testified that they did not like to go to Alberson’s house and that Jonathan could not understand why he was always in trouble with his stepmother.
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Better keep the kids at home:
"Texas parents get custody of kids living in bus" by Michael Graczyk | Associated Press, January 23, 2013
Better keep the kids at home:
"Texas parents get custody of kids living in bus" by Michael Graczyk | Associated Press, January 23, 2013
CONROE, Texas — Nearly a year after their two children were found living virtually unsupervised in an old school bus in Southeast Texas, two parents regained full custody Tuesday when a judge dismissed a child welfare case against them.
‘‘It feels really good,’’ said Sherrie Shorten, of Splendora, after she and her husband, Mark, appeared at a hearing.
Last March, the Shortens were serving an 18-month federal prison term for conspiracy to embezzle Hurricane Ike benefits in Louisiana when a postal worker repeatedly spotted the disheveled children, Jessica, 12, and Chance, 6, in the Montgomery County area. Child welfare officials were notified and took the children into foster custody.
Despite its worn appearance, the bus inside had been renovated, furnished, had hot and cold water and a bathroom, and was air-conditioned. The family moved it from Louisiana after their home there was flooded from Hurricane Ike.
Then what was the problem?
Then what was the problem?
The Shortens had arranged with an aunt to care for the children while they were imprisoned but the woman told authorities her 12-hour workdays and caring for the children had overwhelmed her.
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Whatever you do, do not turn them over to the state of Texas:
"Girl’s death stirs look at Texas agency" by Betsy Blaney | Associated Press, October 17, 2012
Whatever you do, do not turn them over to the state of Texas:
"Girl’s death stirs look at Texas agency" by Betsy Blaney | Associated Press, October 17, 2012
LUBBOCK, Texas — Police have launched a rare investigation of the Texas child protection agency after a 22-month-old girl died and her mother claimed that her military husband’s deployment overseas left her too stressed to care for their three children.
Related: Texas' Torture Schools
That's what I call it.
Abilene police Chief Stan Standridge said the department learned that a new supervisor at Child Protective Services closed the case six days before the child’s death on Aug. 28.
Agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said a caseworker assigned to investigate allegations of medical neglect against Tiffany Nicole Klapheke closed the case soon after being promoted to supervisor. In doing so, she violated agency guidelines that require a final face-to-face visit and someone else to sign off on the closure, he said....
Tamryn Klapheke died at an Abilene hospital after being found unresponsive at her home at Dyess Air Force Base. She weighed only 17.5 pounds and her body had chemical burns, indicating she had been exposed to human waste, the medical examiner’s report said....
What was in that shit?
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Related: Texas' Torture Schools
That's what I call it.
Abilene police Chief Stan Standridge said the department learned that a new supervisor at Child Protective Services closed the case six days before the child’s death on Aug. 28.
Agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said a caseworker assigned to investigate allegations of medical neglect against Tiffany Nicole Klapheke closed the case soon after being promoted to supervisor. In doing so, she violated agency guidelines that require a final face-to-face visit and someone else to sign off on the closure, he said....
Tamryn Klapheke died at an Abilene hospital after being found unresponsive at her home at Dyess Air Force Base. She weighed only 17.5 pounds and her body had chemical burns, indicating she had been exposed to human waste, the medical examiner’s report said....
What was in that shit?
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