Oklahoma City mom is given 20-year term in child’s death

A mother has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for mistakes that led to her 2-year-old daughter’s death in Oklahoma City.

Elizabeth Nicole Guerrero, 28, pleaded guilty March 1 to permitting child abuse. Her punishment was the outcome of a deal she reached with Oklahoma County prosecutors.

A first-degree murder charge against her was dismissed in the agreement.

Her trial had been set to begin Monday.

Her boyfriend, Herman Bailon, 34, pleaded guilty in September to first-degree murder for beating the girl at an Oklahoma City motel. His sentencing is set for April.

Bailon told Oklahoma City police he slapped, kicked and stomped Liliana Rodriguez on July 19, 2008, because she wouldn’t eat her lunch, records show. The child died the next day.

Guerrero admitted in her guilty plea that she reasonably should have known not to leave Liliana in Bailon’s care on July 19, 2008, because she knew Bailon "to be a threat to my child at that time.”

Bailon is in the United States illegally. Guerrero told police she knew her boyfriend was frustrated watching Liliana and two other small children in the motel while she worked two jobs, reports show.

She told police she also knew Bailon had abused Liliana before, once whipping the girl with a phone cord severe enough to leave scars, reports show.