{"id":32737,"date":"2023-07-18T22:46:37","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T04:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jury-in-cortez-convicts-woman-of-child-abuse-that-resulted-in-life-threatening-injuries\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:02:23","slug":"jury-in-cortez-convicts-woman-of-child-abuse-that-resulted-in-life-threatening-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jury-in-cortez-convicts-woman-of-child-abuse-that-resulted-in-life-threatening-injuries\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury in Cortez convicts woman of child abuse that resulted in life-threatening injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Garland
Garland Malcolm was convicted on one count of child abuse July 14. (Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office\/Facebook)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A jury convicted Garland Malcolm on one count of child abuse July 14 in Cortez after only three hours of deliberation. The charge is a Class 3 felony.<\/p>\n

According to the arrest affidavit, which The Journal<\/em> obtained from the Montezuma County District Attorney\u2019s Office, Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office Sgt. Bryan Hill was called to Southwest Memorial Hospital on Jan. 6, 2022, for an unconscious juvenile.<\/p>\n

Nurses at the hospital reported that the child\u2019s mother, Malcolm, told hospital staff members that she found her child on the floor in the kitchen, but later changed her story, telling them that the child was \u201crunning around screaming throughout the house,\u201d said the affidavit, written by Detective Yvonne Huff.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival at the hospital, the 6-year-old boy was unresponsive and was intubated. A CT scan revealed a \u201clarge subdural hematoma,\u201d known as a brain bleed. The child was flown to Children\u2019s Hospital Colorado in Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n

A virtual meeting with doctors in Colorado Springs was held to report the extent of the child\u2019s injuries. He was found to have head trauma \u201cequivalent to a motor vehicle accident\u201d and \u201cbeing ejected from the vehicle or thrown from a horse,\u201d the affidavit reported. Medical doctors reported that the injuries could not have been the result of an accident, and the child could not have injured himself.<\/p>\n

Other injuries included a skull fracture, torn ligaments in his neck, and tears and hemorrhages in both retinas, \u201cwhich could result in blindness or partial blindness\u201d if the child survived, the affidavit said. Bruising was found on the lower portion of his body.<\/p>\n

Because the child had no history of head trauma, all the injuries were \u201cdiagnostic of child physical abuse and abusive head trauma,\u201d the affidavit said.<\/p>\n

Malcolm and her husband, Roy Malcolm, adopted three biological siblings in October 2020, including the injured boy. The couple also have a biological child of their own. The three uninjured children were interviewed by Chris Veach of Montezuma County Child Services.<\/p>\n

The children described their punishments for \u201cbeing naughty,\u201d saying they had to run laps around the house or the horse pasture when they got in trouble. At least one of the children was also made to do squats or jumps.<\/p>\n

The interviews also revealed that the children were spanked with a hairbrush, which would break, or with a belt. Their parents would belt the bed covers around them so they couldn\u2019t get up and sneak food in the night, the interviews revealed, and their mother sometimes struck the children, bloodying their noses.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 3, 2022, the Montezuma County Department of Social Services reported that the 6-year-old was \u201cin a persistent vegetative state with a feeding tube for eating, a trachea tube for breathing, and a shunt in his brain to help drain the fluid,\u201d the affidavit said. The child was not responsive in any way, and muscle atrophy had begun.<\/p>\n

A Journal<\/em> reporter spoke with prosecuting attorney Jeremy Reed to learn more about the child\u2019s current condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe child can\u2019t walk, can\u2019t talk and can\u2019t interact with the world in any meaningful way,\u201d Reed said. The child is fed through a nutritional tube and must use a wheelchair. From the medical professional\u2019s testimony, the boy\u2019s injuries aren\u2019t likely to get better, Reed said.<\/p>\n

He wanted to make a statement thanking those involved in the trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to thank the jurors who dedicated a week of their lives to this case,\u201d Reed said. \u201cThe jury should be proud of their service, and I want them to know that their service is appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank Christian Champagne, the district attorney for the 6th Judicial District, who agreed to take on this case when procedural issues mandated that this be prosecuted by a different district,\u201d he said. \u201cMr. Champagne then agreed to deputize myself and Rob Shapiro so we could continue on prosecuting this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also expressed gratitude to his co-counsel Shapiro for aiding in the trial and bringing \u201chis impressive experience and talent in child advocacy to assist in this prosecution,\u201d as well as providing advice along the way.<\/p>\n

He also thanked his support staff and their crucial role, specifically thanking Cassie Robinson, Brenda Wright, Rebecca Gardner, Sylvia Lisk and Clarisa Osborn for their help with travel and logistics for the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prosecution in this case was important to this community, and the verdict was fair and just,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n

He said that the other children are doing well, and the people taking care of them are doing a great job. He did not elect to disclose who had custody of the children, as they are minors.<\/p>\n

Malcolm\u2019s official charge is listed as child abuse \u2013 knowingly or recklessly causing bodily injury. Her sentencing hearing will be held Aug. 28. More information will be available after her sentencing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six-year-old child might never walk or talk again<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81910,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32737\/revisions\/81910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32737"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}