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Deliberations begin for 1990 killing case

MIAMI, July 8 (UPI) -- Jurors in Miami began deliberations Thursday in the second trial of a woman accused of killing her 3-year-old son in 1990.

Prosecutors say Ana Maria Cardona, now 48, deliberately beat and starved her son, Lazaro, and then hid his body in Miami Beach, The Miami Herald reported. Her lawyer says prosecutors have not proved their case and that she was coerced years ago into giving an incriminating statement.

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The boy was nicknamed Baby Lollipops when the body was first discovered because he was dressed in a T-shirt with a lollipop design.

Jurors began weighing Cardona's fate Thursday morning after a three-week trial, WBFS-TV, Miami, reported.

Cardona was sentenced to death for the killing in 1992 but won an appeal 10 years later because prosecutors did not make full disclosure of statements given to police by her lesbian partner, Olivia Gonzalez Mendoza. Gonzalez spent 20 years in prison for her part in the crime.

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