Jeana (DP)
Former Member
Yes!!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
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Brie said:Abuse is usually cyclical - These children should absolutely NOT be returned to the family! Their young parents most likely learned that type of behavior from somewhere! What these badies have experienced already will most likely cause emotional distress for their entire lives !!!:sick:
They deserve a chance to grow up as far away from the situation as possible!!!
A jury decided this afternoon that Ivan Emmanuel Castaneda should be sentenced to life in prison for inflicting severe injuries on his infant daughter....
Testifying today, Castaneda said he did not cause his daughter's massive injuries and denied ever abusing her.
Testifying today, Castaneda said he did not cause his daughter's massive injuries and denied ever abusing her...
[Mother Donna] Norman testified this week that she saw Castaneda squeeze the baby's abdomen and stick his finger down her throat on repeated occasions...
Prosecutor Kari Allen told jurors Thursday that Castaneda's statement to the police was enough for him to be convicted, even without Norman's testimony.
She said Castaneda initially tried to blame the baby's injuries on an uncle who has Down syndrome, whom he falsely described as ``mentally ill.''
A Houston mother whose infant daughter was viciously brutalized from head to toe was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison after a jury convicted her on a lesser charge of injuring the child...
Norman's attorneys portrayed her as a loving mother who tried to protect her daughters from abuse, but said she herself was terrorized by the children's father and her cries for help went unanswered...
[But] Norman also had lied to Child Protective Services about how her older daughter once suffered a broken bone so the children would be returned to her, Allen said.
"She brought those babies back into that house with her and Ivan while she knew he could (hurt them). She's a wolf in sheep's clothing," Allen said.
The long-term effect of the abuse is still unclear, but a doctor testified during the trial that the girl's brain was irreversibly damaged.
In an adoption ceremony in state District Judge Pat Shelton's courtroom, foster parents Christopher and Zenia Ledezma made Hailey and her 3-year-old sister, Charla, permanent members of their family. The children even got new names...
The Ledezmas couldn't be certain until July 17 that they would be able to keep the girls. In a custody hearing on that day in Shelton's court, jurors took little time deciding that the children should live with the Ledezmas instead of their biological parents or grandparents...
But there are still challenges ahead, especially for Hailey, whose injuries have caused continuing medical problems...
The little girl is developmentally delayed, often stumbles when she walks and has trouble speaking. Hailey has been seeing doctors and getting speech therapy, and her new parents aren't giving up...
six years into his life sentence, Castaneda, now 28, is eligible for a parole hearing in November...
Castaneda qualifies for a parole hearing because until 2007, convicted child abusers could qualify for what is known as "good time" credits. According to the algorithm Texas prison officials use, Castaneda has "earned" nine years of good time...
Had Castaneda been convicted in 2007, however, he would not have been eligible for parole for three decades. A law in 2007 added child abuse or "injury to a child" to the list of violent offenses that no longer qualify for "good time." Offenders convicted since the law changed must serve at least half their sentence...
Norman, the girls' biological mother, was sentenced to seven years for her part in the abuse and qualifies for a parole board hearing this fall. She's expected to be released next year when her sentence is completed.
Both girls know they are adopted, but not why. Ledezma said neither seems to recall the abuse they suffered.
Houston's Miracle Baby, who survived brutal and nearly deadly abuse at just 6 months old, is now 8 years old...
[She] is sweet but struggling at times, because of her injuries. She said reading and homework are Just too hard. But she already knows what she wants to be when she grows up.
I m going be a police, she said...
The two sisters have learned to manage life's often unfair challenges together. As they play a new game, Madison naturally, seamlessly steps into help Autumn.
It will be at least another five years in prison for Ivan Castaneda, sentenced to life in 2005 for the savage beating of his 6-month-old daughter, who suffered injuries so brutal the case is considered one of Harris County's worst...
On Wednesday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied parole for Castaneda and set his next hearing for 2016....
"They are just happy innocent children who still believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny. I dread the day I have to sit them down and tell them that this has happened to them," said Zenia Ledezma, who along with her husband, Christopher, adopted Hailey and her sister.