Dyers found guilty in Fort Collins child abuse case
Less than 24 hours after deliberations began, a jury on Thursday found two Fort Collins parents guilty of felony child abuse.
Doug and Leah Dyer face mandatory sentences of 10-32 years in prison — the sentence is stiffer than the presumptive 4-to-12-year range for a Class 3 felony because the serious bodily injury suffered by their daughter constituted an "extraordinary risk crime."
The Dyers were found guilty of knowingly and recklessly ignoring their young daughter’s seizure condition for years while the girl wasted away in their south Fort Collins home.
Eighth Judicial District Judge Gregory Lammons will sentence the couple Jan. 9.
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The Dyers had been out on bond throughout the jury trial. However, their bondsman has "gone out of business," said Kathryn Hay, the public defender representing Doug Dyer.
"They are currently living out of their van," Hay said, arguing they should remain out on bond until sentencing by citing their financial hardships and consistent attendance at court hearings.
Lammons, however, said that because the terms of bond had changed, and because there was now a conviction in the case, bond should be reset at $15,000 for each of the Dyers.
As Larimer County Sheriff's Office deputies remanded them into custody, the couple's older son briefly argued with staffers about separating from his parents. He then stormed out of the courtroom, cursing.
An argumentative Leah Dyer shouted, "this is illegal" as a male deputy had handcuffed her and patted her down before leading her into a secure holding area. Doug Dyer stood silent in his gray suit before he, too, was led out of the courtroom.
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More than three years after first responders whisked the girl from the home on Trilby Road, on Wednesday prosecutors and defense attorneys made their final arguments to the jury in a Larimer County courtroom crowded with lawyers, Fort Collins police and supporters of the Dyers. The jury returned with a verdict about 3 p.m. Thursday.
The Larimer County District Attorney’s Office aired audio and video interviews recorded between the Dyers and health care workers and law enforcement. Prosecutors highlighted discrepancies in how long each parent said the young girl was unable to feed herself, hold her head up and use the bathroom on her own.
They said that was clear evidence the couple was intelligent enough to square away their stories, iron out their timeline and mask how knowing and reckless they were in failing to get medical care for their daughter.
“That’s not disordered thinking,” Deputy District Attorney Daniel McDonald told the jury. “That’s minimization of your behavior because you understand that you did something wrong.”
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Defense attorneys throughout the trial laid blame on the health care industry they said was mismatched with the couple's worldview. Skeptical of Western medicine and with low health care literacy, Doug and Leah Dyer, now 46 and 49, respectively, were left to treat their daughter's ailments on their own.
Despite administering medications for a period of time, the Dyers stopped as doctors admitted being unclear as to exactly what was causing the girl's seizures.
Attorneys said the Dyers believed the girl was speaking with spirits. The couple called ghost hunters to the south Fort Collins home that was reportedly haunted, where spirits slammed doors. Fearing spirits were possessing their daughter, they sprinkled salt around her bed, said Sara Cure, a public defender representing Leah Dyer, during closing statements.
Defense attorneys declined to comment outside the courtroom after the verdict was read and their clients were taken into custody and set to be booked into the Larimer County Jail.
Reporter Jason Pohl covers courts for the Coloradoan. Follow him on Twitter: @pohl_jason.