Granny on Trial for Burning Toddler

A North Texas woman is on trial for allegedly using a curling iron to burn her 2-year-old great granddaughter all over her body.

Police said the girl was burned in July 2008 while she was living with 65-year-old Saundra Patterson in Haslet. Relatives in Oklahoma noticed the injuries and reported them.

Prosecutors showed the jury a curling iron that they said Patterson used to cause multiple first and second-degree burns from the top of the girl’s head down to her feet.

But, Patterson’s defense attorney said that couldn’t be further from the truth.

He said the girl burned herself while her great grandmother was asleep. She climbed up on a chair and got herself tangled in the cord of the curling iron that had been left on, he said.

"The next thing you know it gets hot and she's trying to figure out what to do with it and while standing up in that chair,” said Attorney Tom Zachry. “It’s just an unfortunate situation."

Zachry said Patterson woke up to the sound of the girl screaming and immediately ran to help her.

The little girl is now 3 years old. She and her two siblings remain in foster care.

If convicted, Patterson faces a maximum of life in prison. She could also receive probation.