Mom who glued kid's hands to wall faces life term

Elizabeth Escalona faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty in July to attacking her daughter, Jocelyn Cedillo, last September. Police say the 23-year-old mother attacked the toddler due to potty training problems.

During a sentencing hearing that began Monday, prosecutors presented gruesome photos and details of the attack.

Jocelyn was hospitalized for about one week with injuries that included bleeding on her brain, a fractured rib, severe bruises and others likely caused by direct blows, according to Dr. Amy Barton, a former child abuse specialist at Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

"When I think about the time involved in that and what that scene must have looked like, it's overwhelming," Barton said.

Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Abel Lopez, who interviewed Escalona after the attack, showed a bottle of super glue taken out of the family's apartment as well as a section of an apartment wall with Jocelyn's handprints.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled to continue Tuesday. Escalona's attorney, Angie N'Duka, said she hadn't decided if her client would take the stand. A state district judge will decide her punishment.

In a videotaped interview with Lopez after the attack, Escalona insisted over and over: "I'm taking the blame." Lopez said Monday that Escalona wouldn't immediately explain why she was taking the blame, even as doctors fighting to save her daughter's life needed information about what had happened.