MIAMI (WSVN) - A South Florida woman twice convicted of murdering her 3-year-old son will stand trial for a third time but will no longer face the penalty of death.
Prosecutors instead will seek a life sentence for Cardona.
A jury twice convicted Ana Maria Cardona of the 1990 murder of her son. Both times she was sent to death row, but in a new trial, prosecutors are no longer seeking the death penalty.
The state attorney’s office released a statement saying, “There have been recent developments in the law regarding the death penalty since the initial charging of Ana Cardona, some 25 years ago, which have caused us to reassess our position. What has not changed is our intention to vigorously prosecute this case to its proper conclusion.”
The badly beaten body of the baby was found dumped in Miami Beach by two FPL workers. He was wearing just a diaper and a shirt with lollipops on the front, with police nicknaming him “Baby Lollipops” as a result.
Police said the child had been starved and beaten, weighing just 18 pounds when his body was found with a fractured skull, multiple broken bones, broken teeth, burns, and bedsores. The Orlando Sentinel reported that the boy was most likely still alive as long as three days after he was left to die in a pile of leaves. The county medical examiner called it the worst case of child abuse he had ever seen.
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