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An Illinois mom convicted in the 2011 beating death of her 4-year-old son on the boy’s 4th birthday was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison, PEOPLE confirms.
The woman’s brother, Joseph Valdez, who found the little boy, had much harsher words.
“You don’t deserve the title of mother,” he said to Valdez in court, according to theTribune. “You’re a monster.”
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Valdez’s attorney, Brett Balmer, plans to appeal the verdict and sentence, she tells PEOPLE.
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The judge presided over separate trials for Ruiz and Valdez, who wasconvicted of first-degree murderin September. Ruiz was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to 75 years in prison.
“It was appropriate that [Valdez] got significantly less than the boyfriend,” Balmer tells PEOPLE. Although the defense did not recommend a specific sentence for Valdez — she faced up to 60 years — her attorney says the minimum of 20 years on the conviction would have been a fairer sentence.
Neighbors and family friends had previously spotted Christopher with apparent injuries that included bumps, bruises and a black eye covered up with makeup, trial testimony revealed.
On Thanksgiving 2011 — the day before his uncle, Jose, and aunt received a worried call from a neighbor and raced to Valdez’s home, where they found Christopher’s body wrapped in a blanket in a bedroom — bruises were evident all over the boy’s torso when his mother lifted his shirt, testimony showed.
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The incident that sent Christopher to the hospital had occurred the previous summer.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was called to investigate after Christopher showed up at the hospital with bruises and a bump on his head. But the agency concluded that allegations of abuse were “unfounded” and allowed Christopher to remain in his mother’s care, according to theTribune.
“I miss my family and I miss Christopher too,” an emotional Valdez said in court before she was sentenced, theSun-Timesreports. “Whatever happens today, happens.”
When her attorney asked if Valdez could have a few moments with her other children before being escorted from the courtroom, Judge Sacks initially balked, according to the newspaper.
“With her kids? My goodness, a question like that?” Sacks said to Balmer.
“Do you want to see Christopher too, Ms. Valdez?” the judge asked. “A picture of him also?”
Christopher would have turned 11 this year, said his aunt, Katrine Valdez, according to theTribune. “They say time heals,” she said. “I can say that is not true.”
source: people.com
