Florida: Prosecutors seek death penalty for mother, daughter charged in toddler's beating death

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Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for an Orlando mother and daughter accused in the beating death of a toddler on July 7.

A grand jury in late August indicted Callene M. Barton, 58, and Lakesha Lewis, 29, on charges of first-degree murder, witness intimidation and child neglect.

The two are accused of beating 3-year-old Xavier Mokarzel-Satchel with a plastic wand from window blinds before Barton threw the boy against a wall. Xavier died hours later from blunt-force trauma to his head.

In court documents, prosecutors listed Xavier’s young age and the fact that he was “particularly vulnerable” among the case’s aggravating circumstances to justify seeking the death penalty if they are convicted.

Xavier was the son of Lewis’s live-in girlfriend, Brandi Marie Mokarzel, 23, of Orlando.

Mokarzel previously testified that the abuse that led to her son’s death began back months before. She said the women beat him with slippers, plastic spoons and the wand ultimately used in Xavier’s death.

Xavier’s fatal beating was a punishment for helping himself to yogurt and milk and making a mess, Mokarzel told investigators. Photos from the scene showed a milk jug on the kitchen floor with the cap off and little pieces of the plastic wand scattered around the living room.

As Xavier laid dying, Mokarzel said Lewis and Barton told her they would have her and Xavier hurt or killed if she told officers about the abuse.

Mokarzel is charged with child neglect.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, Caitlin Doornbos, October 4, 2017

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

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