Mother Sentenced For Fatally Choking 3-Year-Old Daughter

Sentenced to 35 years in prison for murder

A North Texas mother has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for fatally choking her 3-year-old daughter.

Janice Rene Anthony, 20, reached a plea bargain with the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office. Anthony pleaded guilty to murder in her daughter's death while prosecutors agreed to the 35-year sentence.

“While she was unarguably a bad mother, the defendant wanted to take responsibility for causing the death of her child,” Prosecutor Alana Minton said in a press release. “After reviewing all of the circumstances of the case, we believe that justice was served today.”

Police found the child, 3-year-old Paris Howard, dead in Anthony's apartment in Fort Worth in Sept., 2012. The child's body had obvious bruising to multiple body parts, according to the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office.

Though Anthony initially told police that her daughter's injuries were caused by falling down stairs, she later admitted to spanking and punching the child on a daily basis as punishment.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed the cause of death for Paris Howard was "asphyxia by manual strangulation. Anthony admitted to have choked the young girl more than once.

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