A Tucson jury had convicted a mother of starving her child to death after his skeletal remains were discovered by the landlord inside a toy box.
Raquel Barreras has been convicted of first-degree murder and had pleaded guilty to four other charges including abandoning or concealing a dead body and three child abuse counts.
"It took Roman a long time to die," Deputy Virginia Aspacher told jurors. "It took him a long time to starve to death." The mother left her child, Roman, alone inside the toy box that she removed to an outdoor laundry room where he died. She reportedly denied him food and prevented his brothers from playing with him and feeding him.
"She was not a good mother," her attorney Cynthia Yializis. "But she did not want her son to die."
