The boy's mother, Marcelina Mendoza, 20, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for her part in the Aug. 19 death of her son.

The judge said that Marcelina Mendoza also had been a victim of her husband's violence. But he said she contributed to her son's injuries and death by beating and biting him and picking him up by the ears and throwing him around the room.

"Other than being trapped by this whole scenario of violence, which was initiated by her husband, I think Mrs. Mendoza is a good person," Scott said.

The Mendozas, who are undocumented immigrants from Mexico, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Eduardo Jr. Testimony showed that Eduardo Mendoza inflicted most of the child abuse.

"Marcelina Mendoza was not the primary actor in this scenario," the judge said, "but that does not excuse her because she participated in some very affirmative acts."

The toddler wasn't even allowed outside to play during the three weeks he was repeatedly kicked and beaten by fists, shoes and an electrical cord in the 7-by 13-foot room where the five-member family lived in Highland Park, according to testimony at the Mendozas' sentencing hearing.

"The nightmare on 2nd Street best describes the life this little boy had," said Assistant State's Atty. Claudia Kasten. "It was one nightmare after another."

She and the other prosecutor, Matthew Chancey, had urged that Eduardo Mendoza be sentenced to death.

"When a child such as Eduardo Mendoza Jr. is so brutally murdered by his family," Chancey argued, "we have the right to expect the ultimate penalty.

"Punishment should fit the crime, but the law (in Illinois) does not allow the punishment that would truly fit this crime."

Chancey said the life sentence means that, under Illinois law, Eduardo Mendoza will never be eligible for parole.

Defense attorney Barry A. Gross had asked Thursday that Mendoza be shown mercy, although his client appeared resigned to facing a death sentence.

"If my life has to be taken away, I will have to pay with my life," Mendoza told Scott just before being sentenced. "In some way I feel responsible (for Eduardo Jr.'s death) and I will pay what I have to. I will not say anything else, judge."

Assistant public defender Dorene Kuffer, who represented Marcelina Mendoza, said the mother was afraid to report the domestic violence to police because they were in this country illegally and feared deportation.

"She could do nothing to stop him because she was terrified (of her husband)," Kuffer told Scott. "She was here illegally and had nowhere to turn."

In rejecting a death sentence, Scott said he was not minimizing the heinous crime.

"Mr. Mendoza," the judge said, "is a very violent man and a vicious and brutal killer who is responsible for the death of his son."

Nonetheless, Scott said he had to be guided by the fact that Eduardo Mendoza had no prior arrests in the United States or Mexico. The judge cited three particularly heinous Illinois murder cases in which the defendants, who had no prior criminal records, were all sentenced to death.

In all three cases, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the death sentences because they were first-time offenses. Scott said one of the cases was in Lake County.

The violence inflicted on Eduardo Jr. came after what family members said was a normal, happy and healthy life in his native Mexico. Eduardo Jr. spent nearly all his brief life with grandparents while his father worked in Illinois, Washington and California tending lawns, picking apples and asparagus and washing cars.

Last August, the boy came to the United States to live with his parents and two sisters in Highland Park.

Mendoza was then working at a Highland Park car wash earning about $200 a week. He said the arrival of Eduardo Jr. added to his stress and financial burden.

Mendoza, in a statement to Highland Park police, said he beat and kicked his son about 20 times during the three weeks before his death on Aug. 19. Marcelina Mendoza told police there were about 30 beatings.

The father said he lost his temper when his son broke things, vomited or soiled his pants. Eduardo Jr. had so many bruises and injuries it took a pathologist two hours to catalog them at the Cook County morgue.

"This once happy little boy, once loved little boy found himself in a place where every day he was beaten and his world turned upside-down," Chancey told the judge. "He died because he could not stand another beating from this man (Mr. Mendoza)."

Mother Pleads Guilty In Abuse Death

By Robert Enstad - ChicagoTribune.com

January 26, 1993

A Highland Park mother who contributed to the death of her three-year-old son by repeatedly hitting and biting him, pleaded guilty Monday to first degree murder.

Marcelina Mendoza, 20, entered the plea on the condition that she not be sentenced to death for killing Eduardo Mendoza Jr. She also agreed to testify in the sentencing hearing of her husband, Eduardo Mendoza Sr., 24, who also was charged in the crime.

Eduardo Sr., who is said to have inflicted the most serious injuries to the child, pleaded guilty to murder this month. Prosecutors will ask for the death sentence at Eduardo Sr.'s sentencing hearing next month.

Lake County prosecutors say that the abuse that Eduardo Jr. suffered at the hands of his parents last summer is one of the worst cases of child abuse they have ever seen.

"She (Marcelina Mendoza) says they beat the child 30 times," said Assistant State's Atty. Matthew Chancey. "That is a lot of beatings in three weeks."

The boy had lived with his grandmother in Mexico most of his life.

He was brought to live with his parents, who were migrant workers living in Highland Park, in late July. On Aug. 19, the boy died at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago after being taken there in a coma.

The parents had taken Eduardo Jr. to Highland Park Hospital a day earlier, stating that he had injured himself when he fell down the steps while playing with a toy. A subsequent investigation by Highland Park police led to both parents admitting that they had kicked, beaten and bitten Eduardo Jr., and even thrown him across the room.

The mother had been scheduled to go to trial Monday before a jury and Lake County Circuit Judge Charles Scott. Had she been convicted at trial, the state would have asked the death penalty.

But like her husband three weeks earlier, Marcelina Mendoza pleaded guilty just before her trial was to begin. The plea agreement was reached between Chancey and Assistant State's Atty. Claudia Kasten and the attorneys for Marcelina Mendoza, Public Defenders Doreen Kuffer and Barbara Kahn.

Scott advised the mother that she will face a minimum of 20 years in prison at her sentencing hearing on Feb. 25. The maximum sentence would be life in prison without parole. Chancey said the Lake County State's Attorney's office agreed not to press for a death sentence because Marcelina Mendoza inflicted fewer and less severe injuries on Eduardo Jr. than her husband.

Eduardo Sr.'s sentencing hearing will begin Feb. 23 before Scott. Chancey said a condition of Marcelina Mendoza's guilty plea is that she testify against her husband at that hearing.

She will not testify about the beatings of Eduardo Jr. but will testify that Eduardo Sr. beat her.

Parents Indicted In Fatal Abuse Of Son

By Robert Enstad - ChicagoTribune.com

September 3, 1992

A young Highland Park couple could face the death penalty if convicted of charges that they beat, bit and whipped their toddler son repeatedly over a three-week period before his death, according to an indictment returned Wednesday.

Eduardo Mendoza Sr., 23, and his wife, Marcelina, 20, have been charged with the murder last month of their 3-year-old son, Eduardo Jr.