Gifford v. State

2017 WY 93, 399 P.3d 1240
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 10, 2017
DocketS-16-0240; S-16-0241
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2017 WY 93 (Gifford v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gifford v. State, 2017 WY 93, 399 P.3d 1240 (Wyo. 2017).

Opinion

BURKE, Chief Justice.

[¶1] Appellants, Michael Archie Tibbets and Donna Rose Gifford, were each convicted after a joint trial of three counts of child abuse in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-503(b)(ii), in relation to injuries inflicted on their children. They contend the State produced insufficient evidence to support the convictions. We affirm.

ISSUE

[¶2] Appellants present the same issue:

Did.the State produce sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Appellants recklessly caused mental injury to their children?

FACTS

,[¶3] Appellants had three children together: a daughter, J.T., bom in 2003, and two sons, M.T. and C.T., born in 2004 and 2007. Dr. Mary Bowers served as pediatrician for M.T. and C.T, from their birth, and for J.T. from the age of nineteen months. When M.T. was six months old, he was nearly four pounds underweight. Dr. Bowers diagnosed him with “non-organic failure to thrive”1 and concluded that his growth had been impaired because he was not being fed enough. She advised Appellants to supplement M.T.’s feedings with baby formula. Appellants, however, “decided against” using baby formula and instead fed M.T. a mixture of whipping cream and molasses. When Dr. Bowers saw M.T. again when he was six months old, he was anemic and weighed 50% less than the average for his. birth-weight.

[¶4] The same pattern repeated itself after C.T.’s birth in 2007. When Dr. Bowers saw C.T. when he was four months old, he was significantly underweight. Dr. Bowers diagnosed C.T. with non-organic failure to thrive resulting from inadequate nutrition. Although Appellants believed that C.T. was lactose intolerant, they also fed him a mixture of molasses and whipping cream. C.T. was subsequently hospitalized for a week on two separate occasions due to failure to thrive. When C.T. was five months old, he suffered a traumatic brain injury when he suffocated in loose blankets on' his bed. Following this incident, C.T. had reduced vision [1242]*1242and required a substantially higher level of care.

[¶5] Dr. Bowers referred C.T. for rehabilitative and therapeutic services at the local Child Development Center. She made the referrals necessary for Appellants to acquire a helmet to protect C.T. when he became more mobile, but Appellants failed to obtain one. Dr. Bowers also referred C.T. to two different ophthalmologists, but Appellants failed to obtain prescription glasses for C.T. Appellants also disagreed with Dr. Bowers’ conclusion that C.T. was having seizures following his brain injury.

[¶6] The Wyoming Department of Family Services (“Department”) first became involved with the family in 2006 when M.T., who was two years old at the time, was discovered by law enforcement to be wandering alone outside. The Department subsequently received reports from Dr. Bowers and other care providers that M.T. and C.T. had been diagnosed with failure to thrive. The Department' also received reports from the Child Development Center that Appellants were not following through with services, including speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy, provided for C.T.’s special needs. When Department personnel visited Appellants’ home in 2009, they found that its condition was “out of control.” There was rotting food on the floor and on the kitchen table, and there were'only small pathways through clothes, boxes,- and other items .in the living room. There was also rotting food and trash on the floor in the children’s rooms.

[¶7] Due to the fact that Appellants were not following through with Dr. Bowers’ recommendations, and because of concern about the children’s behaviors, she reported to the Department the possibility that the children were being neglected. Department personnel worked with the family to develop a plan to meet the children’s needs. Ultimately, however, Appellants refused to accept parenting services from the Department and failed to follow through with the plan or provide a suitable home environment for the children. In 2010, the children were going to school “smelling of urine, [wearing] dirty clothes .,. defecating in their pants, and then there were concerns, again that the house had disintegrated again.” Employees from the Child Development Center were' forced to stop therapy in Appellants’ home due to its condition.

[¶8] Local law enforcement subsequently reported to the Department that a friend of one of Ms. Gifford’s older children requested that J.T. and M.T. “touch his penis.” The friend was convicted of two counts of public indecency. In counseling, J.T. confirmed that the incident occurred and indicated that she was angry. J.T. also manifested sexualized behavior. Ms. Gifford, who was in-the house at the time of the incident, characterized the incident as “a prank,.in bad humor.”

[¶9] In 2012, after significant efforts to treat a severe rash on C.T.’s bottom and groin, Jacqueline Coulter, C.T.’s special education teacher* contacted the Department to report the issue. Unlike other students in his class who wore diapers, C.T. had a consistent problem with diaper rash. Ms. Coulter would bathe C.T..at school and wash his clothing because he came to school in dirty and undersized clothes .that “frequently smelled of feces and mold.” She observed “red bumps, whiteheads throughout his private region, and' up — sometimes up to his stomach” from duct tape that Appellants used to attach his diapers to his body. By putting ointment on C.T. “every hour when [school staff] took him to the bathroom throughout the week,” the rash would be nearly healed’ by the end of the week. She explained to Ms. Gifford that duct tape should not be used, and “sent less-invasive tape home, like medical tape.” Although Ms. Coulter talked to Ms. Gifford about the need to continue treatment over the weekend, C.T.’s rash would return by the next school week.- By October 2012, C.T.’s rash had become so severe that

his skin was actually peeling off of his bottom; it was red, it was cracked, and it was, bleeding. Inside of the crack of his bottom was also red and. cracked and bleeding.... [H]is testes and his penis [were] also red and cracked and bleeding, and on his hips was also red, cracked and bleeding.

When school staff cleaned him, he would cry out in pain.

[1243]*1243[¶10] At that point, due to the Department’s increasing concerns about C.T.’s condition, the state of Appellants’ home, and Appellants’ failure to follow the Department’s recommendations or follow through with therapeutic services provided by the Child Development Center, law enforcement removed the children from the home and placed them in protective custody. The Department placed the children in foster care. J.T. and M.T. were placed in foster care together, and C.T. was placed separately with another family.

[¶11] In January 2013, the State filed a Neglect Petition in juvenile court alleging that J.T., M.T., and C.T. had been neglected by Appellants. The Department subsequently substantiated that J.T., M.T., and C.T. had been neglected, that C.T. had been medically neglected, and that C.T. had been abused. In 2014, Appellants voluntarily executed consents for adoption of C.T.

[¶12] Following further investigation, the State initiated the present case by separately charging Mr. Tibbets and Ms. Gifford with three counts of felony child abuse of J.T., M.T., and C.T., in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-503(b)(ii).

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Bluebook (online)
2017 WY 93, 399 P.3d 1240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gifford-v-state-wyo-2017.