'Baby Lollipops' Trial: Florida Mom Convicted Of Murder, Again

MIAMI, FL — The mother of "Baby Lollipops," the 3-year-old boy who was starved, beaten and burned in Miami before his death in 1990, was convicted — again — of murder and aggravated child abuse.

Jurors convicted Ana Maria Cardona, 56, on Wednesday in the killing of her son Lazaro Figueroa, and now faces a sentence of life in prison. This is the third time Cardona was convicted of killing Figueroa. She was twice sentenced to death, but both convictions were overturned by the Florida Supreme Court. Prosecutors chose not to to seek the death penalty for ta third time.

Lazaro's emaciated body was found concealed in bushes in Miami Beach in November 1990. The emaciated boy weighed just 18 pounds and he had been brutally beaten. Various bumps, bruises and cigarette burns were all over his body. His skull was also fractured and his left arm was permanently bent at a right-angle. It was child torture the medical examiner said, according to trial testimony.

"After suffering years, months, days of continuous abuse by her, under her watch, Lazaro inevitably withered and died. And lay in the dirt until his little heart stopped beating," prosecutor Reid Rubin said in a closing argument. "It was only a matter of time before he wound up dead because of her."

Cardona did not abuse her other children. She abused Lazaro, prosecutors said, because his father was a drug dealer who was killed by rivals, which left Cardona with a less-than lavish lifestyle that she had been living.

"She became angry and spiteful, and she took it out on an innocent young child who became her personal whipping boy. It escalated, more and more," the prosecutor said. "Lazaro died because his mother didn't love him."

Cardona testified in her own defense that her female lover, Olivia Gonzalez, was responsible for Lazaro's death. Trial evidence showed that Gonzalez and Cardona fled to central Florida after the boy died, even enjoying a trip to Disney World, before their arrests.

Defense attorney Steve Yermish said in his closing argument that Cardona was a poor mother and may have taken actions against Lazaro that amounted to child abuse. But he said she did not kill her son.

"I can only assume that you are angry at Ana Cardona. And you have every right to be. Ana was a lousy mother. She failed as a mother. But you can't decide this case because you or I or anyone is angry at Ana for her failures," Yermish said. "The charge of aggravated child abuse may have been proven. The charge of murder has not."

Unable to identify him initially, officers called the boy "Baby Lollipops" after the T-shirt he was wearing. It took more than a month for investigators to learn Lazaro's identity and track down the two women. Their big break came when a neighbor who had occasionally cared for Lazaro recognized him from police flyers.

Gonzalez testified in previous trials, but not this time. She served 14 years in prison for her role in Lazaro's mistreatment when living with Cardona. She was never charged with killing him.

Cardona told investigators after her arrest that Lazaro hit his head falling out of bed, and that she hid his body hoping not to lose custody of her other children. This week, she said that was not the truth.

By CURT ANDERSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer

Photo credit: Florida Department of Law Enforcement via AP