A 33-year-old mother told a judge last week she “does everything for her children” just before he sentenced her to 15 years in prison for letting her disabled daughter slowly starve to death.
Through a translator, and with tears streaming from her eyes, Doraelia Espinoza told Judge Bruce Fox she “never wanted” her 16-year-old daughter Maria to die and declared “I love my children with my whole heart, from the oldest to the youngest,” KRQE reported.
Maria’s rash-covered body weighed 40 pounds when it was brought to an Albuquerque hospital several days after she died. According to reports, the girl’s body had maggots “crawling” out of her. Maria, who was blind and suffered from seizures, was determined by doctors to be “extremely malnourished with no fat tissue or muscle.”
“I’m not a bad person,” added Espinoza, who has five living children. “I’m just a hard-working mother who does everything for her children.”
One of Espinoza’s other daughters also beseeched the court, asking for the lightest sentence possible. “I respectfully ask that you consider her lifelong history as a hard-working, kind and devoted mother when deciding the sentencing,” the defense attorney read from the daughter’s written statement.
Maria was slowly starved to death, according to prosecutors, who have recommended the mom receive an 18-year sentence.
Bernalillo County Deputy District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch said that Maria’s death was not like most of the abuse cases her office handles, where a parent may have lost their temper in a moment of weakness. “This case is not a tragic accident, a lapse in judgment, a parent that is frustrated. This case is about prolonged abuse,” she told local KRQE.
As they were investigating Maria’s death, detectives discovered that the girl’s room was filled with flies, feces, and blood. “Nobody should have to suffer like that,” Brandenburg-Koch added.
“This case stands out as one of the most heartbreaking. Not just myself but for my unit that we’ve encountered. And not just because of the harm done but who inflicted it,” Detective Roger Garcia, a member of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, told the court at the sentencing on Friday, January 2.
Espinoza pleaded no contest to reckless abuse of a child resulting in death and child abuse, according to the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office. Espinoza’s attorney had asked the judge to sentence her to 12 years behind bars.
Before Fox handed down the 15-year sentence, he noted the “physical injury and suffering of this child … didn’t happen in a moment or a reckless quick decision. This happened at a minimum of five or six days.”
Fox said he did consider Espinoza’s struggles with her mental health in deciding the sentence but noted the crime was too horrific.
Espinoza has been ordered to have no unwanted contact with her children while she is in custody.
If you suspect child abuse, please call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or visit ChildHelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential, and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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