Woman Pleads Guilty in Daughter’s Starvation

ATHENS � The Henderson County trial for a woman who starved her teenage daughter has been halted after she changed her plea. KETK reports that on Wednesday morning, a jury trial came to an abrupt ending when Irma Espinoza, 52, of Athens, stopped the trial in progress and changed her plea of not guilty to guilty after one day of graphic testimony. The testimony depicted the long-term chronic neglect of her 17-year-old severely disabled daughter, who weighed only 29 pounds when investigators from Adult Protective Services and the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office became aware of her condition.

Espinoza was charged with injury to a disabled person by omission, which required prosecutors to prove that bodily injury was caused by Espinoza’s failure to act and seek required medical treatment or by withholding proper nutrition from her daughter. Somehow, officials say, the child survived after developing a variety of conditions. Additionally, a sheriff’s investigator told the jury several cats lived in and around the home, with urine and fecal matter throughout the house. Other testimony revealed that Espinoza was beneficiary of a nearly $2.8 million trust fund when the child dies. A sentencing hearing has been set for May 12.