SAN ANTONIO – UPDATE: On Tuesday, Gloria Proo was sentenced to 88 years behind bars and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine in the death of 5-year-old Josiah Williams.
(Original Story)
The second of three people charged in the starvation death of Josiah Williams, 5, was convicted of injury to a child by omission charges on Monday.
Gloria Proo, 50, was accused of doing nothing as the child was deprived of food and physically abused in 2012. The child died in December 2012 from what doctors said was “prolonged malnutrition and physical abuse.”
During closing arguments in Proo’s trial, her lawyer, James Tocci, told the jury that prosecutors did not prove their case.
RELATED: Lawyers get into heated arguments in starvation death trial
“What evidence do you have that she starved that kid to death?” Tocci asked. “Nothing! Nothing!”
More than enough, countered prosecutor Stephanie Boyd.
“I think of what that little boy went through and I fight for him every day,” Boyd said. “The reason I fight for him is that not a single adult in that household fought for him.”
READ MORE: Stepmom convicted in death of 5-year-old stepson blames others
The child’s stepmother Crystal Williams, was convicted last spring of injury to a child in Josiah’s death. She is serving a 99-year prison sentence.
Her husband, Charleston Williams, the child’s biological father, is awaiting trial.
Josiah and two other children lived with the couple.
CONT. COVERAGE: Woman sentenced to 99 years in prison in stepson's starvation death
Proo, according to testimony, was a frequent visitor to the home and often babysat the children.
She is facing a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Testimony in the punishment phase of her trial gets underway on Tuesday in Judge Ron Rangel’s 379th District Court.
