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Jury convicts US mom of mutilating infant son
A Houston mother was convicted of mutilating her infant son by cutting off his genitals two years ago during an attack she blamed on the family dog.
A Houston mother was convicted of mutilating her infant son by cutting off his genitals two years ago during an attack she blamed on the family dog.
A jury deliberated for about three hours before finding Katherine Nadal guilty of first-degree felony injury to a child.
Nadal had claimed the family dog, a 2-3 kilogram dachshund named "Shorty," was responsible for mutilating her then-5-week-old son, Holden Gothia, as she slept next to him.
But prosecutors told jurors the 28-year-old mother was high on drugs when she mutilated Holden with an unknown sharp instrument in their suburban Houston apartment in March 2007.
The jury also determined she used a deadly weapon in committing the crime although no weapon was ever recovered by authorities.
Nadal had no visible reaction to the verdict, but Holden's family and friends cried and hugged each other in the courtroom.
The seven woman, five man jury was set on Friday afternoon to begin hearing evidence in the punishment phase of the trial before deciding Nadal's sentence. She faces up to life in prison. The punishment phase was expected to continue into next week.
