MIAMI (AP) — Closing arguments are set in the murder trial of a Florida mother accused of beating her toddler son to death in a case that riveted the Miami area decades ago.
Ana Maria Cardona (Miami Herald David Ovalle)
Ana Maria Cardona was convicted and sentenced to death twice before in the 1990 killing of 3-year-old Lazaro Figueroa, whom police could not initially identify and gave the name “Baby Lollipops” because of a T-shirt he was wearing.
Both convictions were thrown out by the Florida Supreme Court. Prosecutors opted not to seek the death penalty this time. Cardona faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
Testifying in her own defense, Cardona claimed her former female lover took the boy to an unknown home where he was killed by the lover.
Closing arguments are expected to begin Wednesday.
By CURT ANDERSON
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