ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The mother at the center of a horrific child abuse case will spend more than a decade behind bars. In September, Krista Cruz pled guilty to child abandonment, child abuse, and failing to report abuse four years after 4-year-old James Dunklee was beaten to death by Cruz’s roommate Zerrick Marquez. The boy had 30 injuries on his body including skull fractures and broken bones.
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At a sentencing hearing Thursday, prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Cruz to 22 years, the maximum allowed under the plea deal. They said she did not care for her son and put him in dangerous situations long before he died. “She is the parent, the only parent James had, the only person he looked up to feel safe, and the only person who kept putting him in danger,” said Prosecutor Savannah Brandenburg-Koch.