Texas Mom Gets 99 Years for Cutting Off Son's Genitals

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 18, 2009 5:58 AM CDT
Texas Mom Gets 99 Years for Cutting Off Son's Genitals
Katherine Nadal listens to testimony during her trial in Houston last week. She was sentenced to 99 years in jail for severing her son's genitals.   (AP Photo/Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle)

A Texas mother was sentenced to 99 years in prison last night for cutting off her infant son's genitals, an attack she blamed on the family's dog. Katherine Nadal, now 28, tested positive for cocaine, methadone, and Xanax the day after the mutilation. None of the baby's severed parts were found. At the sentencing Nadal shouted that she "didn't hurt him," leading the baby's father to scream, "You abused him while he was still in the womb!"

At closing arguments, the district attorney showed a picture of the smiling child and told the jury, "This kid has so many problems coming toward him in the future. She took his identity, folks. And she either flushed it or threw it in the trash can somewhere." (More genital mutilation stories.)

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