Published Friday, September 03, 2010 2:10 PM

Mom gets 50 years after child was beaten to death

Associated Press

VERNON, Texas -- A north Texas woman whose 5-year-old daughter was beaten to death has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Kristina Earnest was sentenced Thursday in Vernon after pleading guilty to injury to a child by omission. She had been charged with capital murder, but Wilbarger County District Attorney John Staley Heatly says her actions didn't directly cause the child's death.

Earnest is expected to testify against her boyfriend, Tommy Castro, at his upcoming trial. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, so Castro would automatically get life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder.

Castro remained in custody Friday with bond set at $2.5 million.

In July 2009 the couple rushed Kati Earnest to a Vernon hospital and said she accidentally drowned. A medical examiner ruled the girl died of abdominal blunt force trauma.

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