Saturday, July 24, 2004
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) -- A woman who admitted beating her boyfriend's 3-year-old son to death after he wet the bed was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Karen Molina was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to an aggravated manslaughter charge in March.
She initially told police that Stephen Donley's injuries stemmed from a fall, but later told authorities she took him into the bathroom after he wet the bed and slammed his head into a door.
"His sole mistake was that he had problems toilet training," prosecutor Robert VanGilst said Friday in court. "And for that he was given a death sentence."
Molina, 34, put the child back in bed and he was found later having seizures, authorities said.
The boy died six days later in April 2002; an autopsy determined he died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Molina, a native of Honduras, could have been sentenced to life in prison had she been convicted of murder, but she reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. She must serve nearly 151/2 years before she is eligible for parole.