Ellis County man sentenced to life for beating infant daughter to death

ELLIS COUNTY – A 38-year-old Waxahachie man, Jose Sierra, was sentenced to life in prison last week for injury to child.

In December 2021, Sierra approached maintenance workers in front of the Ellis County Jail stating his infant daughter was unresponsive, according to a press release from the Ellis County DA’s office.

After 911 arrived, a paramedic found the child was “unresponsive, limp, and cold to the touch.”

Ellis County District Attorney Ann Montgomery said after the trial, “The injuries this baby endured during her short life were despicable. The person who should have protected Valeria was, in fact, the perpetrator.”

Seven-month-old Valeria Sierra had been pronounced dead at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Waxahachie. 

The death, however, did not end there because emergency room personnel who examined the infant’s body found several bruises and multiple broken bones in various stages of healing.

After an autopsy revealed horrific damages were found on the child’s body, forensic pathologist Dr. Chester Gwin, stated the child’s body “could no longer fight and heal from these injuries.” 

Sierra blamed everyone including the infant for the injuries. 

His explanations “did not match the medical evidence of the injuries or the level of force that caused Valeria’s injuries,” the press release stated.

The jury delivered the guilty verdict last week in Ellis County Judge Cindy Ermatinger’s 443rd District Court.

Injury to a child as charged in the indictment carries a sentencing range of five to 99 years or life in prison.