Judge tells mother she was ‘monster’ in her dead toddler son’s life, sentences her to life in prison for starving, beating him to death
Published 2:05 pm Monday, September 30, 2019
A judge told a Louisiana woman she was the “monster” in her toddler son’s life, and sentenced her to life in prison for killing the 2-year-old, 15-pound boy.
The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office says in a news release that Judge Danyelle Taylor sentenced 29-year-old Twyena Thomas on Monday, the two-year anniversary of Chase Thomas’ death.
A jury convicted Thomas in August of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence. Prosecutors say Thomas starved her son and beat him, while she and some of her other children ate meals, photos of which she posted on social media.
The judge said she wished she could do more than sentence Thomas to life in prison.
She also said the child’s weight, broken skull, scars and bruises showed that he died scared of a “monster” — his mother.
She read the statement to Thomas and gave her notes to district attorney’s spokesman Paul Purpura, who emailed them to reporters.
