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A Dallas jury will return Tuesday to continue deliberations in the sentencing phase of the trial of Tina Marie Alberson for the dehydration death of her stepson.
Prosecutors want a sentence of life in prison, but the defense wants the jury to sentence her to five years behind bars.
The jury found Alberson guilty Friday of second-degree felony injury to a child for depriving her stepson of water for several days.
Police said Alberson and the boy's father, Michael James, forced the 10-year-old boy, Johnathan James, to go without water for five days as a form of punishment.
The boy died July 25, 2011, after he was found unresponsive in his home in the 5500 block of Elmleaf Court. Due to the hot summer and string of 100-degree days, police said they originally thought the boy's death was heat-related until the medical examiner ruled otherwise.
The boy's parents were then charged with his death.
Prosecutor Carmen White, in closing arguments Friday, described the case as cruel and unusual punishment.
"She had the ability to deny him what he wanted, which was the TV, but what she chose to do is deny him what he needed, his water. We can't deny people the basic necessities of life," White said Friday.
Alberson was charged with first-degree felony injury to a child, for which she could have faced life in prison. The jury convicted her on a lesser charge, second-degree felony injury to a child, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Alberson may still be sentenced up to life in prison due to a previous conviction.
The case against the boy's father is scheduled to begin next month.
NBC 5's Ken Kalthoff, Mark Schnyder and Lita Beck contributed to this report.
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That wouldn't have helped in this case. She was his STEPMOTHER, and therefore didn't give birth to him.
(NOTE: this was supposed to be a response to posting #7 but got moved to the end of the thread - sorry about that!)
Yes, I'll bet that bitch was drinking water, tea, coffee, juice during those 5 days.
Man, there must be something about having an UGLY face that makes people turn into murderers. I swear, every time someone is charged or convicted of killing a child, raping a teenager, etc., they are UHHH-GLEE! If you think SHE's nasty looking, check out her pumpkin-faced husband!
Bah is sad... did they lock him in a room or anything? Little bros kid is 5 if he wants water to goes and gets it, same with PP&J even cleans up his mess, but anyways that him. So he must been lock in a room or something, i would think most 5y olds know how to get water.. As for the dad and mom... Being that dumb should get you more jail time..
"She had the ability to deny him what he wanted, which was the TV, but what she chose to do is deny him what he needed, his water. We can't deny people the basic necessities of life," Really? We deny people the necessities of life everyday by means of stating they don't have enough money or credit for said necessities. Corporations deny people necessities every day. The government denies people necessities every day. For them, it's legal. For us, it's a crime. (Not saying the step-mother is not guilty of a crime for killing her step son, just found the prosecutors comment interesting.)
Make them suck on a block of salt and put a jug of water just out of their reach!!
The rage I have for these people is immeasurable.
I feel so badly for the boy.
Second degree...I guess the kid didn't die enough to warrant a first degree...how many parents were on that jury?!
you gotta wonder, its texas just send it back to mexico,
Where do they manufacture animals like this?!? The fact that the poor kid lasted five days is pretty amazing. I can't imagine what he must have looked and acted like towards the end. And yet they continued the torture. They waited until he was as good as dead and then decided perhaps they should do something -- only as an effort to save their own skin of course! A 30-day prison sentence among the general population should be sufficient for this pair of child torturers. Felons in stir have a code that says you don't cross certain lines. Well, these two kid killers crossed one of those lines big time. Their lives aren't worth a plug nickel outside of solitary confinement.
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Off both of them. Then find the birth mother and kicked HER in the ass about 50 fifty times for kiting and leaving the little boy with his dickhead dad and Blubberino the Wicked Stepmom. Unless the Dad was actually the better parent of the two...In which case, off all three. P.S. Anyone who is too stupid to know going without water will kill ya is TOO STUPID TO HAVE A KID. Period.
skipe yahoo and others have been shut down by obama
thats WRONG!!
shut up warren
new computers are filt
They should to give these 2 killers the death & nothing less,because they killed their son/stepson...They both killed this little guy,for no reason at all...They wouldnt like it if they had to go with out their drinks for 5 days,now would they? No they wouldnt;I wonder what HAPPEN to his BIOLOGICAL MOM? Because the story never said anything about her...If he has any other siblings Ill be praying for them & his grandparents...Rest In Heavenly Piece little one,you are forever in Gods care now!!
Let's hope they both get the harshest sentence, along with a period of time of dehydration (so they can know what that poor little boy went through).
And eye for an eye! Thus...will teach other people out there who care for children to do the right thing!
Just kill the worthless bi@@@ and her scumbag husband. They deserve to die!! Oh my god! I don't even know them, but I feel so bad for the child and the pain he must have suffered from dehydration. Poor, poor child.
Injury charges. Seriously? How about murder charges? They caused the death of a little boy and should be given the death penalty. The justice system has gotten too liberal and lenient with regards to heinous crimes against children. Society is starting to resemble B-rated horror movies.
Life in prison, @!$%# that, These two knew exactly what they were doing. why should we have to pay for her fat slut ass to sit in a cell for the rest of her worthless life, We shouldn't have to which means it time to enforce the death penalty a little more often and we need to stop giving them so many oppertunities to appeal. What do we do with a feral cat or rabid dogs? We put them down!! So why are we paying to keep the mentally defunct portion of our prison population to live their entire lives in jail,
It's ok to kill your own children, but if some crazy nut kills them, all legal gun owners get restrictions placed on them. Stupid fukkin pres and vice pres.
Good grief! I'm glad I'm able to recognize the good people in our society because the evil morons running free are enough to make you sick! Take the"fat bag's" water and chips away from her. I can't afford to support her worthless butt any longer. Times are tough,,lady...sorry ..
no justice here in america
not for children. This country has a poor record of caring for children. All these idiots out saying we are killing children with abortion hey, what say we let idiots have children and they kill them in assorted freaky ways, after years of physically and mentally abusing them, yes that would be much better. What is that you say? The catholic church will step in and help with thier millions of dollars? and do what? sexually abuse little girls and boys?
Another example of what's really wrong with this world. We're letting too many worthless morons reproduce.