by BRAD ROLLINS
Managing Editor

A Hays County jury this morning sentenced Cesar Mojica Carmona to 14 concurrent life sentences nearly a week after convicting the Dripping Springs man who severely beat and bit his three young children.

On April 29, the jury found the 24-year-old guilty on all 14 counts of causing serious bodily injury to a child, a first-degree felony. His wife Sara Amaya, 23, is awaiting trial on 15 counts of the same crime.

Authorities say the children, then four- and three- years old, were covered in bite marks when removed from the couple’s mobile home in October 2006. Last week, three medical experts said their examinations uncovered a number of other injuries including cuts, bruises, burns and scars. Both of the twins, a girl and boy, had multiple rib fractures and broken legs that had not been treated, authorities said.

During the trial trial, doctors testified that his children suffered from more than 140 patterned injuries, including at least 60 bite marks that left permanent scars all over their bodies. The beatings also left the children with more than 20 broken bones, including broken legs, broken teeth, and fractured ribs, feet and fingers, most of which went untreated. The children also suffered multiple bruises, burns and lacerations, including those left after Mojica Carmona whipped his toddler with an electrical cord.

Doctors also testified that Mojica Carmona’s violence and malnourishment of the children has left them severely developmentally delayed. According to prosecutors, the twins could not walk or talk when state officials took them into custody. Today, the children remain almost the same height and weight as Mojica Carmona’s 15-month-old son, who was born to Amaya after her arrest.

The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Sherri Tibbe and Assistant Attorney General Heather Youree, a former Hays County assistant district attorney. The case was investigated by Hays County Sheriff’s detective Jeri Skrocki.

“Today’s life sentence ensures that a convicted child abuser will never harm his innocent children again,” Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a written statement. “…Justice has been served and the healing process can begin for the young victims.”

– Information from the attorney general’s office used throughout

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