Appeals court upholds dependency and neglect decision in severe child abuse case

Garland Malcolm of Pleasant View was sentenced to a maximum term of 32 years in prison for child abuse

By Bailey Duran Special to The Journal

The Colorado Court of Appeals on Oct. 12 upheld the court’s decisions in a dependency and neglect case that was filed on behalf of the Montezuma County Social Services.

In a separate but related case, Garland Malcolm was found guilty of neglect and severe child abuse that resulted in a maximum sentence and severed parental rights for both parents to all four of their children.

On July 14, 2023, Malcolm was sentenced to 32 years in prison after a jury convicted her of severely abusing one of her children to the point that he may never recover, according to the doctors who treated him at the Colorado Springs Children’s Hospital.

Garland Malcolm was charged with a Class 3 felony child abuse for knowingly or recklessly causing bodily injury.

According to the appeals court ruling, the child, who was identified as “G.M.” in court documents, had severe injuries that were similar to that of a serious car accident. He was found to have a brain bleed, tears and hemorrhages in both retinas, a skull fracture, torn ligaments in his neck and bruising on his penis, hip, buttock and leg.

Garland and Roy Malcolm’s parental rights to their four children were terminated, and the children were placed in another home.

G.M. and his two biological siblings were adopted by the Malcolms in 2020, and the fourth child was their biological son.

In their interviews with the children, police and other investigators discovered an abusive pattern of discipline that was corroborated by each child. The children said their parents would hit and spank them with their hands, belts and brushes, sometimes to the point of bleeding, and would restrain them in bed at night with blankets and belts to keep them from getting up at night.

If the younger children would have a toilet accident, they would have to take a cold shower or sit outside in the snow without pants. Before his injury, G.M. was forced to eat a peanut butter sandwich that his mother and other siblings had spit in as punishment for eating out of the peanut butter jar, among other extreme punishments.

Because of G.M.’s injuries and the testimonies of the other children, the Montezuma County Department of Social Services filed a petition in dependency and neglect.

The parents requested a trial by jury, and six months after their request, the juvenile court held a three-day jury trial.

Social Services said the “parents had subjected the child to a pattern of abuse and mistreatment that culminated in significant injuries to G.M. from which he would never fully recover.”

The doctors asserted that G.M.’s injuries were caused by “significant trauma,” but the parents said his injuries were caused by a “tragic, unexplained accident.”

Witnesses who testified during the trial were the other three children (via video from their forensic interviews with investigators), a doctor from the child protection unit in the Colorado Springs Children’s Hospital, a doctor who did a medical evaluation on the other children, a police detective, a first responder and a forensic interviewer.

Both parents also testified, though Garland used her Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions, and remained silent when asked whether she caused G.M.’s injuries, and how the injuries occurred.

After the three days, the jury decided that all four children, including the couple’s biological son, were dependent and neglected. They also decided there was no appropriate treatment plan to try to keep the remaining three children in the home with parents.

This decision was made because the parents had undergone “extensive” training to be foster parents already.

Three months later, the parental rights for all four children were terminated.

Social Services alleged that the children were dependent or neglected under four subsections of section 19-3-102 C.R.S. 2023.

These four subsections are:

(1)(a) The parents subjected the children to mistreatment or abuse or allowed another to do so without trying to make the abuse stop.

(1)(b) Children lack proper parental care through actions or omissions of parents.

(1)(c) Children’s environment is injurious to their well-being.

(1)(e) Children are without proper parental care through no fault of parent.

A few weeks after the trial, Roy Malcolm, the father, filed a post-trial motion for relief, saying he was “entitled to a new trial by jury because jury rendered inconsistent verdicts.”

His only argument, according to the documents, was that he was not home at the time of the incident, but the child interviews supported the jury’s conclusion that he was part of the cycle of mistreatment and abuse in the home.

Garland Malcolm said the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict because the jury was unable to pinpoint the exact method in which the injuries occurred.

Though it is still unknown exactly how the injuries were inflicted upon G.M., doctors compared his injuries to ones that would be seen in a severe car accident, saying it was some sort of “acceleration and deceleration event” where his head had violently been whipped back and forth, causing “abusive head trauma.”

They concluded that it could not have been caused by accident or through the child’s own actions.

“Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Department and drawing every fairly deducible inference in favor of the jury’s decision, we conclude, for the reasons described below, that the record contains sufficient evidence to support the jury’s determination that the children were dependent or neglected,” the document said.

The unconscious child was taken to Southwest Memorial Hospital on Jan. 6, 2022, and flown to Colorado Springs Children’s Hospital after being seen by Sgt. Bryan Hill of the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office.

Because of suspected child abuse, the other three children were interviewed and revealed an extreme and severe pattern of abuse in the home.

“Today, the child injured in this incident received some small amount of justice,” prosecutor Jeremy Reed said at the end of the trial. He also shared that G.M. “will never recover from his injuries and will never regain the life he had.”

“The sentence imposed by the court was appropriate to the crime committed, and justice was served,” Reed said.

“The child can’t walk, can’t talk and can’t interact with the world in any meaningful way,” Reed said. He now requires the use of a wheelchair and is fed through a feeding tube.

Reed also thanked jurors for their decision.

“I especially thank the members of the jury, who sat through very difficult testimony and photographic evidence, respected and followed their oath and delivered a just and fair verdict,” he said.