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Ogden • In the last year and a half, 5-year-old Le'A Silva's life has improved dramatically.

She goes to school and therapy for her cerebral palsy. She is surrounded by people who love her and talk to her. Her father makes sure she is healthy, clean and safe.

But last March, Paul Silva didn't know if his daughter would live. The child, then 3 1/2 years old, was rushed to the hospital on March 11, 2013 after her mother, Raquel Borce, found her unconscious. Doctors later discovered that the disabled girl had somehow ingested a deadly amount of alcohol.

"I've seen Le'A get dialysis to clean her blood, still not knowing if she would survive," Silva tearfully told an Ogden judge on Wednesday. "It's something I would not wish on any parent."

Borce, 33, was arrested and charged last June with second-degree felony child abuse. She pleaded no contest to the charge in September, and on Wednesday 2nd District Judge Brent West sentenced her to spend a year in jail for the crime.

He also ordered the woman to complete 36 months of probation, and allowed her to have work release from the Weber County Jail.

"She deserves more," Silva said of the sentence. "But I couldn't ask for more. My daughter is with me. That's all that matters."

Borce did not speak at her sentencing, but defense attorney Paul Remy stressed to the judge that his client called 911 after Le'A was found unresponsive, and wanted to get her medical care.

"Your honor, we are requesting some mercy here in this case," he told the judge.

How the high level of alcohol got into Le'A's system is still a mystery.

At sentencing, Deputy Weber County Attorney Leticia Toombs accused Borce of feeding her child alcohol to sedate her, but Remy told the judge that forensic evidence showed no alcohol was in Le'A's feeding bag, tubes or syringes.

Toombs told the judge that Le'A's blood alcohol level was 0.946 when she was taken to a nearby hospital. The prosecutor said the child likely would have had to ingest eight shots of 40 proof alcohol to reach that level.

"That's ten times the legal [driving] limit, when she should not have had any," Toombs said. "I truly don't believe she intended to kill the child. I do believe she intended to give her the alcohol so she didn't have to deal with her... It was only through luck and skilled medical intervention that this child is still with us today."

Before handing down the sentence, West indicated that Borce's defense at trial would have been that someone else — a nurse — had given her child alcohol.

"The bottom line for me on this particular case is, this did occur when Ms. Borce was taking care of her child," the judge said. "She wanted to point the finger at the nurse and everything else. While that possibility existed, you should have tried that [at trial.]"

But Le'A's father said he doesn't believe anyone else besides Silva could have given his daughter the alcohol.

"It's impossible," Silva said. "There's no way. It was all her."

jmiller@sltrib.com

Twitter: @jm_miller