Mom sentenced to 40 years for girl's beating death

In a crime described as "beyond comprehension," a Woodridge mother was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison for murdering her 5-year-old daughter months after the two were reunited.

Christina Beltran, 25, wiped away quiet tears before being led back to her jail cell after learning her fate. Minutes earlier, she declined a chance to make a final plea before being sentenced.

Beltran faced a term of between 20 years and life in prison for the crime.

DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis called the mother's actions inexplicable and beyond comprehension.

"Can there be any greater position of trust than that of a mother?" asked Bakalis, who fought to control his emotions while describing the nurturing and love the child was denied. "No. There can't be any greater trust than that."

A DuPage County jury convicted Beltran Jan. 30 of the first-degree murder of her daughter, Evelyn, who died July 6, 2007. The panel rejected a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter in just three hours of deliberation. Jurors also found the crime particularly heinous and cruel, making her eligible for a life term.

Beltran confessed in two videotaped police interviews to slamming Evelyn's head against the floor in a fit of rage after the little girl soiled herself - a condition experts said was brought on by a stomach injury inflicted during a prior beating.

But Beltran later recanted those confessions and blamed her ex-boyfriend, Victor Jimenez, with whom she lived at the time. Beltran said she lied to police initially at Jimenez's urging because he and his parents could better provide for the former couple's then 15-month-old twin sons.

Prosecutors Alex McGimpsey and Ann Celine O'Hallaren argued Beltran resented Evelyn because the child was the product of a rape. They called the false-confession defense absurd and portrayed Beltran as a manipulative liar who was trying to save herself.

Beltran and Jimenez testified during her hard-fought trial last winter. Both blamed the other. Only one fact was without dispute - Evelyn suffered a horrible death after weeks of abuse.

The brown-eyed inquisitive girl died of blunt force head trauma. She had several bruises, cuts and scars covering most of her 41-pound body and new and healing injuries that included a fractured elbow and ribs. She also had a ruptured intestine from an untreated stomach injury that experts said caused her to defecate.

Jimenez, a landscaper, was never charged with any wrongdoing.

The defense team, Jaime Escuder and Robert Miller, argued he was the real killer. They attacked the credibility of the police investigation, which lacked forensic testing of possible evidence inside the apartment to try to determine who was telling the truth.

The defense portrayed Beltran as an easily manipulated, battered woman who only had two years of schooling while growing up in extreme poverty and who herself was subjected to repeated physical and sexual abuse as a child.

"We're not saying there shouldn't be punishment," said Escuder, in seeking a 23-year prison term. "There's a lot here that should invoke some sympathy; some understanding. Do not remove all hope from (Christina Beltran's) life."

He noted it was Beltran who prodded Jimenez to help her bring Evelyn here from Mexico. The child arrived in March 2007, about four months before her death.

It also was Beltran who took Evelyn to the hospital. After learning her daughter died, Beltran began hallucinating, suffered an emotional breakdown and tried to kill herself. She spent one week in a mental hospital.

There were inconsistencies in her testimony. For example, Beltran said Jimenez beat Evelyn's head against the bathroom wall after the child had undressed and was in the shower cleaning herself up.

But Evelyn's "heavenly angel" shirt contained several strands of her long, dark hair - a fact that supports Jimenez's testimony that Beltran pulled Evelyn's hair and struck her head against the living room floor while the child was dressed.

"All of this was not at the hands of a stranger, but at the hands of her own mother," McGimpsey said. "Someone needs to speak for Evelyn Beltran and that's this criminal justice system. A clear, strong message needs to be sent to anyone who would ever even think about harming a child."

Beltran must serve 100 percent of her prison sentence before being paroled. Her daughter, Evelyn, was buried in her native Mexico.