"The boy’s mother sold him to the women"
"Mother, daughter get prison terms in kidnapping" by Juan A. Lozano | Associated Press, February 20, 2013
SAN AUGUSTINE, Texas — A jury sentenced two women to prison Tuesday after convicting them of kidnapping a Houston boy when he was 8 months old and hiding him for eight years before he was found.
Gloria Walker was sentenced to 30 years for injury to a child and eight years for kidnapping, to be served concurrently. Her daughter, Krystle Tanner, was sentenced to eight years for kidnapping and eight years for the lesser charge of reckless injury to a child, also to be served concurrently.
Earlier in the day, the jury convicted them in the 2004 disappearance of Miguel Morin, now 8. Walker had faced up to life in prison, and Tanner faced 20 years.
During the punishment phase, both women testified, insisting they did nothing wrong because the child’s mother had given the boy away.
Prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments that Tanner and Walker neglected Miguel during the eight years they hid him, denying him appropriate medical care and keeping him out of school.
But defense attorneys countered there was no abduction because the boy’s mother sold him to the women and his parents never showed any concern for their son and refused to cooperate with authorities....
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