U.S. District Judge David Winder came close, meting out a sentence of 236 months, or 19 years and 8 months, for Charlissa Sireech. The grandmother had pleaded guilty earlier this year to seven felony counts of assault on then-4-year-old Jose Rodriguez and 3-year-old Emilio Rodriguez.

The judge also ordered Sireech to pay restitution of $267,982 for the medical care the boys received in Utah.

As her two small victims watched from their seats in Winder's Salt Lake City courtroom, a tearful Sireech apologized for her beating one boy into a coma and fracturing the skull of the other.

"I was so sick and everything and taking all these medications," the 46-year-old woman said softly.

Defense attorney Vanessa Ramos said that Sireech has mental and physical health problems, including an IQ of 65 that puts her in an extremely low functioning range.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Bearnson said the punishment is just. "This was such a heinous crime, I wanted a very long sentence," she said.

Bearnson described for Winder the damage that Sireech had inflicted: Jose has paralysis on his right side and is blind in one eye. He is overly emotional and cries at inappropriate times, has difficulty communicating and cannot speak clearly. He wears a helmet because he falls frequently.

In addition, Jose, now 5, is hyperactive and sleeps very little. "His life has been changed forever," Bearnson said.

Emilio is scarred psychologically, the prosecutor added, saying, "He has extreme rage about what happened to him and his brother."

The boy, now 4, pointed to the handcuffed Sireech when she came into the courtroom and said, "Don't worry. She can't hurt me because she's tied up."

The Rodriguez brothers and their 2-year-old sister Mona had been living since spring 2003 with their paternal grandparents, Leoncis and Samuel Rodriguez, in their Palmdale, Calif., home, where their parents, who were struggling with substance-abuse problems, had placed them under an informal agreement. When the children's living arrangement came to the attention of authorities last year, a California court decided that the Ute tribe had authority over their custody.

Court officials apparently believed that, because of their mother's Ute heritage, the children fell under the jurisdiction of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which gives tribes some authority to control placement of American Indian children. In fact, the Rodriguez siblings are not covered by the act because they are only three-eighths Ute, but the tribe agreed to take them in August 2004. So, despite Sireech's past convictions for child endangerment, the children were placed in her home on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation.

Investigators say Sireech began beating Jose and Emilio within a week, apparently frustrated by their inability to speak English. In addition, they say, she used a hot curling iron to prod Emilio and taped Jose's mouth and eyes shut with surgical tape.

It is unclear whether the tribe officials ever made a required weekly check on the children. Sireech's live-in boyfriend, Michael DeHerrera, told investigators that he always left when he heard Jose and Emilio screaming while their grandmother beat them.

The boys were taken to a hospital three weeks after they arrived in Utah, Jose in a coma and Emilio with a severe head injury. Prosecutors allege Sireech caused their injuries by slamming them against the floor.

Jose eventually emerged from his coma but will have lifetime effects from his head injury. Emilio recovered and Mona was not physically injured.

In a separate proceeding, DeHerrera pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse and was sentenced in January in Utah's 8th District Court to 1 to 15 years in state prison.

The three children have been returned to their paternal grandparents.

Their two half-sisters, who already were living with Sireech when they arrived, have been placed in foster care and are thriving, according to FBI Special Agent John D. Wright, one of the investigators in the case.

Life is a round-the-clock struggle in the Rodriguez household. Because Jose is awake much of the time, either Leoncis or Samuel Rodriguez, or their 12-year-old son, must also be awake to watch him.

Leoncis Rodriguez, who was in court for the sentencing, said she would have preferred a longer sentence.

"The apology [Sireech] gave isn't going to make the kids any better," she said. "May God forgive her because God has to judge her."

pmanson@sltrib.com

A dangerous placement

* Jose, then 4, Emilio, 3, and Mona Rodriguez, 2, were living with their California paternal grandparents in August 2004, when state officials sent them to their maternal grandmother on Utah's Uintah-Ouray Reservation.

* Investigators say Charlissa Sireech, who had past convictions for child endangerment, began beating the boys within a week, apparently frustrated by their inability to speak English. The boys were taken to a hospital three weeks after their arrival, Jose in a coma and Emilio with a severe head injury.