Guilty verdict for Texas mom who threw hot grease at 2-year-old daughter

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By Darla Guillen, Chron.com / Houston Chronicle

Published 10:30 am, Thursday, March 30, 2017

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Ladonna Johnson, 29, was Wednesday found guilty. She was accused of throwing got grease at her daughter.

>>Click to see other cases of parents who’ve been arrested or charged in crimes.

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Ladonna Johnson, 29, was Wednesday found guilty. She was accused of throwing got grease at her daughter.

>>Click to see other cases of parents who’ve been arrested or charged in crimes.

… more

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Here are some examples of questionable parenting skills from stories that have made headlines in recent years.

Scroll through to find some of the most troubling cases of parents who have run afoul of the law. less

Here are some examples of questionable parenting skills from stories that have made headlines in recent years.

Scroll through to find some of the most troubling cases of parents who have run afoul of the … more

Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle

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Rachel Lynn Lehnardt avoided jail time after pleading guilty to six charges after she held a naked Twister party with alcohol and drugs for her child and several minors in 2015. The Georgia mother was sentenced … more

Photo: White, Tyler L, Screengrab/Courtesy Photo

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Tonya Couch, the mother of “affluenza” teen Ethan Couch, was indicted on May 26, 2016 on a charge of hindering apprehension and a charge of money laundering. The mother helped her son flee to Mexico while he was on probation for a fatal drunk driving wreck in 2013 that killed four people.

Photo: Mark J. Terrill, Associated Press

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Brook Ashley Wise, a 25-year-old Harlingen, Texas woman, was charged with injury to a child, a second-degree felony, after her one-year-old daughter fell out of a two-story window May 8, 2016. The child … more

Photo: Harlingen Police Department

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Tennessee mother Shanynthia Gardner was charged with cutting the throats of her three daughters and one son, all younger than 5, on July 1, 2016. The 29-year-old will undergo a mental health evaluation to determine if she can stand trial, while her lawyer thinks she suffers from a mental disability.

Photo: Jim Weber

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Troopers arrested Grafton, New York man Michael A. Boomhower, 47, and charged him with third-degree assault and criminal obstruction of breathing after an alleged fight between him and his daughter. Boomhower allegedly choked and slapped his daughter and threw her to the floor.

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Cheryl Reed, 30, is the mother of two young children who were found chained and leashed outside a San Antonio home in April 2016. She was charged with two counts of injury to a child. Reed, along with Deandre … more

Photo: Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News, Staff Photographer

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Porucha Phillips, 34, was charged with a third-degree felony count of injury to a child by omission resulting in bodily injury and another resulting in serious bodily injury after allegedly leaving eight … more

Photo: TOM REEL, STAFF / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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Deandre Dorch, 36, was accused of Injury to a Child by Omission. Dorch is the father of several children found unattended inside a San Antonio home in April 2016. Dorch and his wife Porucha Phillips were … more

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Maryland mother Narges Shafeirad plead guilty on July 28, 2016 to killing her 5-year-old son in 2015 by forcing him to swallow a lethal amount of cold medicine before setting her car on fire and staging a crash. She faces up to 50 years in prison at her sentencing in December 2016.

Read more: Maryland woman pleads guilty to poisoning her son, burning his body
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Photo: Montgomery County, Maryland, Sheriff’s Office

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Kris Smith, 23, was arrested on Aug. 2, 2016, in San Antonio after allegedly scalding her 3-year-old son with hot water after he soiled his pants. The boy’s 33-year-old father did not take him to the … more

Photo: Courtesy Bexar County

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Amy Gonzalez Rodiles, a 34-year-old Frisco woman, was charged with two counts of driving while intoxicated — with child passenger, after she allegedly driving into a pond with her two children.

Read more: … more

Photo: Frisco Police Department

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Police said Deborah Vitt, 38, critically injured a boy after drunkenly crashing into another vehicle in a middle school drop-off line in Carrollton. Vitt faces three felony charges.

Read more: Police: Child … more

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Photo: Bexar County Sheriff’s Office

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This booking photo provided by the Pinellas County Jail shows John Jonchuck. The 25-year-old faces a first-degree murder charge after throwing his 5-year-old daughter off a bridge on the approach to the Sunshine Skyway, early Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015.

Photo: HOPD

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Michael Wayne Livesay, 27, was charged with a first-degree felony of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury or death after the drowning of his 3-month-old daughter.

Read more: Police: Texas man falls … more

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Photo: James Nielsen, Staff

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Photo: Courtesy Of Fairfield Police Dep

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Melissa Martinez, 40, is charged with two counts of manufacturing/delivery of a controlled substance and one count of purchasing/furnishing alcohol to a minor in the 183rd State District Court. Her son, Eddie M. Herrera, 18, was previously arrested and charged with aggravated assault in the 183rd State District Court. He is accused for his role in the death of his girlfriend, Jacqueline Gomez, 17, of Houston.

Photo: Houston Police

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Fabiola Lopez, 21, is charged with capital murder for allegedly killing her 10-month-old son. She gave birth to another baby one day after being arrested on the capital murder charge.

Read more: South Texas … more

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Mandy Wells, 32, faces a felony charge of delivery of marijuana to a child and a Class A misdemeanor charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor for providing those items to about eight children at a sleepover … more

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A Lubbock, Texas mom Wednesday was found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and bodily injury after throwing hot grease at her two-year-old daughter.

Ladonna Johnson, 29, faces probation or up to two to 20 years in prison for the 2015 incident.

Johnson was accused of causing reckless injury to her child. March 11, 2015, Johnson’s husband, Toria Ellis, was holding the girl when he and Johnson began arguing. According to the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, Johnson then allegedly threw hot grease at him while he was holding her daughter.

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In a video of a police interview, Johnson said she put hot grease in a deodorant cap and threw it at Ellis before locking herself in a bedroom. He then reportedly ran at her. That’s when Johnson said she grabbed a pan with the remaining hot grease and swung it at him. She said that he used the two-year-old girl as a shield.

“He shouldn’t have used our baby as a shield. He shouldn’t have put his hands on me,” she said in a video observed by the Lubbock Avalanche Journal.

Officers said that the girl’s skin was peeling off due to the severity of the burns. Child Protective Services removed the child from the home 12 days after the 2015 disturbance.

“(The girl) spent several days in the hospital,” prosecutor Jessica Schneider said. “She’s going to be permanently scarred for the rest of her life without cosmetic surgery.”

The woman’s defense attorney claimed that it was an act of self defense, citing Ellis’ 5-foot, 11-inch, 428-pound build. Johnson, by contrast, was 5-foot, 11 inches and 177 pounds. Ellis also has a pending domestic assault case from Jan 18.

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Police told jurors they did not see any bruises or signs of injury on the mother that night. The 911 call was replayed in court, and Ellis could be heard telling the operator that Johnson threw grease at him and was threatening to throw more. His defense attorney said that he was in the process of leaving the property when she attacked him.

Lubbock County jurors deliberated just three hours before reaching the guilty verdict. Johnson is out on bond and will face sentencing Thursday.

See the video above for a look at how emotional abuse can have long-term effects on children.