Arlena Lindley's boyfriend Alonzo Turner beat her for months and murdered her child — so why was she sent to prison for 45 years? “They both would be in right now,” he said, “and nobody would have even had a second guess about it.” 
 
 Years later, White recalled that she was “shocked” when Judge Howard went far beyond the 10-year sentence she had offered. Her division focuses on “only the children.” White also did not recall that someone else called 911 when Lindley hadn’t, but White said that fact didn’t mitigate her sense of Lindley’s guilt. Watson told BuzzFeed News that he thought about how Phanthtaranth had suffered from repeated physical and sexual abuse growing up in foster homes. ‘Oh, it couldn’t be me.’ But you really don’t know.” Titches would be 11 years old now. Had Mendez just pled guilty, instead of taking his case to trial, he probably never would have learned of the abuse Mendez meted out on Phanthtaranth. Told that many people believe that in a situation like hers, they would do anything to protect their children from abuse, she said, “I was like that. One has two stick figures, with the person on the left labeled “me” and the person on the right labeled “you.” One letter tells Hall that about some new shoes and a favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys. (Judge Howard declined to be interviewed and did not respond to a written question about the 911 call.) Keep up with the BuzzFeed News daily email!
– Tondalo Hall was allegedly being abused by her boyfriend, Robert Braxton Jr. Yet when Braxton broke the ribs and femur of their 3-month-old daughter, he served just two years in prison, while Hall was sentenced to 30 years for allowing the abuse to happen. She was one of 28 mothers in similar situations uncovered in a recent BuzzFeed investigation, one of just three such cases in which the mom got a longer sentence than the man who abused the child. Now, BuzzFeed reports, she is applying for her sentence to be commuted. Clemency seems to be the only option left: She lost her appeal; the judge denied a request to modify the sentence, of which 20 years remain; and she's not eligible for parole until 2030. In court during her trial, as well as in statements outside of court, Hall described the abuse she says she suffered; the judge who sentenced her acknowledged that she seemed to fear Braxton. She tells BuzzFeed things got especially bad when their second child was born in 2004. She says she never saw Braxton hurt their kids. But that fall, she brought their 20-month-old son to the hospital when she noticed his leg was swollen; he had a fractured femur and broken bones, leading suspicious authorities to check on his 3-month-old sister and find her injuries. Both parents were arrested. Hall ended up pleading guilty and testifying against Braxton, though she did not get a reduced sentence in return and he did get a deal when prosecutors realized their case against him was going south. An activist group has started a petition on Hall's behalf.