San Antonio woman sentenced to 45 years in beating death of girl, 2

Emma Marie Rodriguez pleaded guilty Thursday to felony injury to a child for the death of her 2-year-old daughter. Emma Marie Rodriguez pleaded guilty Thursday to felony injury to a child for the death of her 2-year-old daughter. Photo: Courtesy /Bexar County Sheriff's Office Photo: Courtesy /Bexar County Sheriff's Office Image 1 of / 56 Caption Close San Antonio woman sentenced to 45 years in beating death of girl, 2 1 / 56 Back to Gallery

A San Antonio woman was sentenced Thursday to 45 years in prison for injury to a child/serious bodily injury in the 2015 beating death of her 2-year-old daughter.

Emma Marie Rodriguez was 26 when she was arrested July 30, 2015, after police and emergency medical technicians answered a call about an injured child who was unconscious and not breathing in a home in the 1200 block of Flanders on the South Side.

Beautiful had turned 2 years old five days before the incident. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office said the child had bilateral hemorrhaging and bleeding inside her head. She died about a week later from her injuries.

Because of the age of the victim, Rodriguez was charged with capital murder, and with prosecutors opting not to seek the death penalty, faced life in prison without the possibility of parole. As part of a plea agreement reached Thursday in the 227th District Court that would cap her sentence to no more than 45 years, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to injury to a child.

“It’s a tragedy for everybody,” said Edward Bartolomei, Rodriguez’s attorney. “She came from an extremely abusive background; CPS had been involved in her life since she was 2; she used drugs.”

San Antonio police said in an warrant affidavit released at the time of her arrest that Rodriguez confessed to violently “slapping” Beautiful on her face and throwing her twice into a crib. The first time, the child hit her head against a wall, and the second time, she struck her head on a metal object on the crib, the document stated.

Child Protective Services officials confirmed at the time that the agency had previous involvement with the family. After Beautiful was injured, CPS investigators removed her siblings from the home.

Bartolomei had asked state District Judge Kevin O'Connell to sentence Rodriguez to 20 years, but ultimately the judge settled on the maximum. He also fined her $2,000, according to court records.

Bartolomei said at the time of Rodriguez’s arrest, she had seven children and another one on the way. Rodriguez gave birth to her eighth child while in jail awaiting trial and relinquished the rights to her remaining children, all of whom have since been placed in homes.

“She’s extremely remorseful,” Bartolomei said, adding that if she could take it back, she would.

Injury to a child/serious bodily injury is a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Rodriguez, now 28, will have to serve at least half of her sentence before she will be eligible for parole, according to court records.

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