Woman gets 80 years for deadly Texas day care fire

Woman gets 80 years for deadly Texas day care fire

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas woman was sentenced to 80 years today for her felony murder conviction in the death of one of four children killed in a fire at her home day care in Houston.

Jessica Tata, 24, was convicted last week in connection with the death of 16-month-old Elias Castillo. Authorities say Elias was one of seven children whom Tata left unsupervised at her home while she went to a nearby Target store. Prosecutors say she left a pan of oil cooking atop a stovetop burner and that this ignited the February 2011 blaze. Three other children were seriously injured.

Along with the prison sentence, Tata was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. She will have to serve 30 years of her sentence before she is eligible for parole, prosecutor Steve Baldassano said.

“Nobody wins in this situation,” said Patty Sparks, Elias’ great-grandmother, after the sentence was announced. “My heart goes out to the Tata family and those precious mothers and fathers who lost their babies.”

Tata could have received up to life in prison.

She still faces three more counts of felony murder in relation to the other children who died, and three counts of abandoning a child and two counts of reckless injury to a child in relation to three who were hurt. Baldassano said prosecutors planned to pursue trials on the remaining felony murder charges.