Mom who burned daughter’s fingers pleads guilty

A woman previously convicted of child abuse for whacking her 8-year-old daughter in the head with a broomstick, choking her and hitting her with a belt, pleaded guilty today to burning seven of the child’s fingers on a stove.

Maria Luisa Garcia, a 35-year-old mother of 10, was convicted in November of felony child abuse, but jurors deadlocked on the charge stemming from the finger-burning.

Garcia, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to unlawful corporal punishment, faces up to six years in state prison. Sentencing is set for March 5.

Deputy District Attorney Matthew Dix said earlier that Garcia abused her daughter continuously from August 2012 until the finger-burning incident last Jan. 16.

The prosecutor said Garcia burned her daughter’s fingers because the girl wasn’t doing her chores.