Fil-Am grandma gets 35 years for killing granddaughter

The Filipino American woman who was found guilty of throwing her two-year-old granddaughter from a shopping mall pedestrian bridge has been sentenced to 35 years in prison, the Asian Journal said.   According to the report, 51-year-old Carmela dela Rosa of Fairfax, Virginia was given a full sentence by Circuit Court Judge Bruce White, who followed the lead of the jury that convicted the Filipino American last year.   “[She] offered a tearful, barely audible apology to her family, saying: ‘I’m very sorry for what I’ve done,” said the report, which was published on Saturday.   It added that White called the case “almost beyond comprehension.”   At the end of a family outing in November 2010, Dela Rosa—a naturalized US citizen—reportedly tossed her granddaughter, Angelyn Ogdoc, over the guardrail at the nearly 50-foot skywalk connecting the Tysons Corner Center to a multi-level parking garage, the Asian Journal said.   The Filipino American claimed to be insane when she threw her granddaughter, but the Fairfax County jury rejected her claim.   “In a videotaped confession, Dela Rosa told police she killed Angelyn to get back at her son-in-law for getting her daughter pregnant out of wedlock and ruining her daughter’s opportunities for a better life,” the report said.   However, Commonwealth lawyer Ray Morrogh noted that Dela Rosa admitted in the same video confession that the Filipino American also harbored hate on the two-year-old because she was “angry [and] jealous” that the child was “stealing attention away” from her.   The Asian Journal said White “had the option to reduce the sentence to the mandatory minimum of 20 years, but could not go above the jury’s recommendation.” - with Rose-An Jessica Dioquino, VVP, GMA News