Texas Woman Gets 80 Years for Killing Boy, 3

(San Antonio, Texas) A 28-year-old local woman, Veronica Herrera, was sentenced this week for murdering her boyfriend's three-year-old son, Andrew Joshua Fox Jr.

Herrera, who is mildly retarded, confessed to holding the child under scalding water in a bathtub. She then took the body to the swimming pool to make the drowning look accidental.

Herrera said she killed the boy because he kept asking for his father and she was frustrated.

Prosecutors had told jurors in closing arguments Tuesday that their sentence would send a clear message.

"You are the community today. The 12 of you are the voice of Bexar County. You're setting the price for this heinous act committed by someone mildly mentally retarded," prosecutor Scott Simpson said.

"You have to set the bar so high that when someone gets frustrated, they know this is what happens if you kill your child so people won't ever do it. That's why you don't want to give probation. Set the bar today. Set it appropriately high."

They did. Herrera received 80 years in prison. She will be eligible for parole after 30 years.