Inset: Katrina Evans (McLennan County Sheriff's Office). Background: The McLennan County Jail in Waco, Texas (Google Maps).
A Texas woman is behind bars and facing a steep prison term as her trial began over extreme child abuse she allegedly inflicted on a toddler she was babysitting when the little girl did not behave.
Katrina Lanett Evans, 34, stands accused of one count of injury to a child in the first degree and two counts of injury to a child in the third degree, according to the McLennan County District Attorney's Office.
The underlying 2023 incidents concern a 2-year-old girl the defendant was babysitting as well as her own daughters, who were 3 years old and 5 years old at the time, authorities say.
Evans was arrested in August 2024, jail records show. Her trial on the child abuse charges, as well as a lone count of retaliation, started Monday, according to county court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
The state's opening statement included an explanation that the defendant allegedly provided to Child Protective Services agents, according to a courtroom report by Waco-based CBS and Telemundo affiliate KWTX.
"When you are in a rage and just popping, you don't know your own strength and how hard you are hitting a baby," Evans allegedly said.
Prosecutors allege the defendant was attempting to justify or excuse violence meted out to the 2-year-old during potty training efforts.
Ultimately, the little girl suffered a broken jaw, broken bones in her wrist and hand, as well as bruises and scratches "from her head to her toes," a nurse from Falls Community Hospital testified on Monday.
The emergency room nurse went on to describe additional injuries to the child, including white circular scars akin to cigarette burns and a "U-shaped" bruise seemingly caused by blows from a belt buckle.
The toddler was first treated at a hospital in Marlin — a small town roughly 30 miles southwest of Waco. After that, she was transported to a children's hospital in Temple, the nurse told the jury.
The babysitter both inflicted extensive physical trauma on the 2-year-old and failed to seek medical care for her, prosecutors say.
The lesser counts relate to allegations that Evans struck her own children on their backs, legs and ribs with switches, shoes, a metal towel rack and clothes hangers, according to law enforcement.
On Monday, the defendant's attorney deferred making his opening statement.
The case is being tried before the 19th State District Court and will continue on Tuesday.
If convicted as presently charged, she faces upward of 99 years in state prison. Since her arrest, Evans has been detained in the McLennan County Jail on a combined $254,000 bond.
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