How Could You? Hall of Shame-Logan Garrett case-Child Death UPDATED
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Frisco, Texas, a missed case from 2011 is finally going to trial in 2013. The pretrial in the capital murder case of Logan Garrett, who died at age 22 months on October 11, 2011, is scheduled for October 31, 2013. The trial is scheduled for November 4, 2013.
Logan and his twin sister were adopted a little more than a week before his death. The adoption was a private placement.
Logan’s adoptive father, Jacky Scott Garrett, aged 40 at the time, was arrested on December 28, 2011. It took until August 2, 2012 for Jacky to be indicted.
“Defense attorney David Haynes said his client’s case will be sorted out in court. “Our position is that he did not murder his child,” Haynes said.
Logan died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen, according to court documents. The father told Frisco police he had been wrestling with his son and knocked the wind out of him. But the boy then groaned and rolled his head back, records say. Garrett sought help from a neighbor, who is a doctor, but Logan’s condition didn’t improve. Logan was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he died.
Logan and his twin sister had moved in with Garrett and his wife, Emily, in March 2011 as part of a private adoption arranged with the help of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Frisco. The twins’ adoption was finalized in early October. A little more than a week later, Logan was dead.
The Garretts have since relinquished their parental rights of Logan’s sister, who had shown signs of being abused, according to court records. The girl remains in foster care.”
Frisco man indicted on capital murder charge after 22-month-old son’s death
[Dallas News 8/3/12 by Valerie Wigglesworth]
History
“The boy and girl had been born to a single mother with little money, a history of drug use and multiple allegations of neglecting her children. Months after their first birthday, they got new names and new parents. They moved last March into a $440,493 home with a pool in Frisco.
But now, months later, one of the toddlers is dead, the other is in foster care, and the man who adopted them is facing a capital murder charge.
The twins’ life with their adoptive parents, Scott and Emily Garrett, was not all it seemed to be, according to police and court records. There was a trip to an urgent-care center after Logan fell from a crib. Another emergency trip was made for his sister after she and her mother fell down the stairs. There were bruises from another fall by Logan in the tub. And then, after playing horsey too hard, the boy had more severe bruising.
On Oct. 11, a little more than a week after the adoption was finalized, Logan was taken by ambulance to Children’s Medical Center at Legacy in Plano with unknown injuries. The 22-month-old boy was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
Emily Garrett was in Wisconsin on business that day. Scott Garrett told Frisco police he had been wrestling with his son and knocked the wind out of him. His son started moaning and his eyes appeared to roll backward, Garrett told police. He told his wife that he had been rough-housing, tickling and playing “Superman” with Logan and that he must have done something, according to the police report.
Deep bruising
The autopsy, finalized weeks later, revealed Logan had a tear in his small intestine that “is usually the result of abusive trauma,” according to the police report. Collin County Medical Examiner William Rohr told police that Logan had alcohol in his system that hadn’t come from any medicine. Logan also had deep bruising on his backside that seemed to have been caused by blows such as kicking, Rohr told police.
The official cause of death: blunt-force trauma to the abdomen.
In December, Frisco police arrested Garrett, 40, and charged him with capital murder. He was released from the Frisco jail on a $75,000 bond.
The Garretts could not be reached for comment.
Scott Garrett’s attorney, David Haynes, said he was still gathering information about what happened. The charge “implies that the police believe that he deliberately set out on purpose to kill his son, and that is absolutely not true,” Haynes said. “It’s just a very sad situation for everyone involved.”
Sgt. Brad Merritt said the police investigation was continuing.
Women who sometimes baby-sat for the Garretts told Frisco police that the twins would cry and become hysterical when their father picked them up, according to police. And one caregiver interviewed by Child Protective Services added: “Every time Emily is out of town, something happens to Logan.”
A week after Logan’s death, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services alleged in court documents that Logan’s sister was in “immediate danger” if allowed to remain with the Garretts. She was temporarily placed with a family friend.
Girl underweight
A medical exam after her brother’s death revealed that at 22 pounds, 11 ounces — down nearly half a pound from a doctor’s visit four months earlier — the girl was significantly underweight for her age.
“This finding is consistent with inadequate nutrition and failure to thrive,” according to the doctor’s affidavit. The little girl also showed signs of traumatic hair loss or hair pulling. X-rays indicated a healing foot fracture that would “most commonly be the result of compression or crushing of the foot,” the affidavit states.
Haynes said he wasn’t aware of any allegations of abuse involving the girl.
“They both had a difficult history before the adoption involving a lot of CPS involvement,” Haynes said.
‘A difficult history’
Court records show that the twins were living last March with their birth mother and six other relatives in a home with no electricity or running water. “They cannot keep any fresh food in the home or milk for the 1-year-old twins in the home,” the note from CPS states.
The children also saw their mom abused by a boyfriend, according to the records.
Shortly after that CPS visit, the mother gave the twins to a friend. The friend arranged a private adoption with the Garretts, records show.
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said her agency was not involved in the adoption. A state adoption involves background checks, home visits, interviews with family and friends and a review of finances. “It’s very all-encompassing,” Gonzales said.
It’s unclear what was involved with the twins’ adoption. Those records were sealed by the state District Court in Collin County that approved them. CPS documents note that the birth mother could not be located to finalize the adoption, so she was served with termination papers “through publication.”
Attorney Robert Matlock, who represented Emily Garrett in the adoption, declined to comment.
In November, CPS recommended parenting classes, counseling and other steps before the Garretts could regain custody of their daughter. But there were concerns. A report stated that the couple appeared “to significantly lack the parenting skills to safely and appropriately care” for the girl. The Garretts have unrealistic expectations, given their daughter’s age and developmental level, the report states.
Explanations doubted
It also said the couple’s explanations for the twins’ various injuries “are implausible given the extent and seriousness of the injuries.”
In mid-December, a week before Scott Garrett’s arrest, the couple voluntarily terminated their parental rights. The little girl, who recently celebrated her second birthday, is now with a foster family. Gonzales said she could some day be adopted by another family.
The CPS investigation remains open, she said.
Haynes represented Scott Garrett in terminating his parental rights with his daughter. Haynes said it became obvious that his client would be arrested. Regaining custody “was going to be difficult, expensive and time-consuming,” Haynes said. “You have to make choices about what you can do with your resources.””
[Dallas News 1/8/12 by Valerie Wigglesworth]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: “Twenty-two-month-old Logan Garrett’s death was ruled a homicide by blunt force trauma to the abdomen.
His adopted father, Scott Garrett, stands charged with capital murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if he’s convicted. But jurors have the option to choose from among seven other lesser offenses, including injury to a child, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide. Jurors may also find him not guilty.
Garrett and his wife, Emily, took custody of Logan and his twin sister, Olivia, in March 2011, and their adoption was finalized on Sept. 30, 2011.
Prosecutor Daniel Lewis said during closing arguments that Logan’s death was no accident. “He did nothing to deserve to die at the hands of the defendant,” Lewis said.
He addressed the numerous witnesses for the defense who testified that Garrett was a good husband, a kind man and an even-keeled father who would never hurt his children. “You don’t snap when there’s company over,” Lewis said. “You don’t snap in front of your in-laws. You snap when you’re alone, when no one is watching.”
Garrett’s wife was out of town on business on Oct. 11, 2011, when Garrett rushed Logan to the home of a neighbor, who was a doctor. The boy was moaning. His eyes were rolling into the back of his head, and he couldn’t sit up on his own. They decided to call 911. Garrett told the dispatcher that he’d been wrestling on the bed with Logan and knocked the breath out of him a couple times. Logan was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where he died in less than 30 minutes.
Lewis reviewed for jurors the injuries that caregivers had seen on Logan and Olivia in the six months that they had been with the Garretts: the black eyes, the genital bruising, the laceration on Logan’s scalp. No one reported them to authorities, testimony at trial showed, because the Garretts always had a reasonable explanation. Lewis also pointed out the findings of Olivia’s medical exam after her twin’s death: a healing foot fracture, traumatic hair loss and weight loss with a failure to thrive.
Defense attorneys Bill Schultz and David Haynes told jurors that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove what happened, nothing to show that Garrett set out to murder his son that day.
“The evidence doesn’t show Mr. Garrett to be the kind of guy to intentionally kill a child,” Schultz told jurors.
Schultz pointed to questions raised with the lead Frisco detective, Scott Greer, who resigned after inappropriate conduct in other cases. He was called by the defense to discuss steps he took in the Garrett investigation. Schultz questioned Greer’s meetings outside of the police department with one of the female witnesses and whether he had any influence on her second written statement, which was more negative about Garrett. Debi Nelson testified that she decided to change her statement before she met Greer.
Schultz also pointed to video recordings of four interviews done at the Frisco Police Department that Greer and his partner did not preserve as evidence. One was an interview with the Garretts. The other three were with caregivers for the twins. The women all testified at trial, but those videos may have answered some questions that the witnesses couldn’t, he said. “We don’t have all the evidence because the police lost it,” Schultz said.
Haynes reminded jurors of a rare benign tumor in Logan’s abdomen that went undetected until after his death. He suggested it may have started to bleed hours or days earlier but didn’t become acute until that night with his father. The defense’s medical expert said the tumor didn’t cause Logan’s death, though. David Posey testified that his review of the medical records showed that Logan died of respiratory arrest caused by aspiration.
“The cause of death is doubtful in this case,” Haynes told jurors. He said there was no evidence that Garrett stomped or punched or kicked his child. There was no evidence that he used an instrument as a deadly weapon, Haynes said.
“A true verdict in this case according to the law and the evidence is not guilty, and I am begging you for that verdict,” Haynes told jurors.
Jurors saw a brief video of Logan laughing and smiling in his car seat moments before his caregiver dropped him off at the Garretts’ home the night he died.
Prosecutor Crystal Levonius called Logan a brave little man. “In his death he did something no grownup did,” she said. “He saved his sister.”
Original: The woman who helped with a private adoption for a Frisco couple testified Thursday that she thought the 1-year-old twins would have a much better life with them.
Instead, 22-month-old Logan Garrett ended up dead. His sister, Olivia, has since been adopted by another family. And their adopted father, Scott Garrett, 43, is on trial facing a capital murder charge in Logan’s death. He has pleaded not guilty.
Both sides in the case have rested. Attorneys are finalizing the charge, which gives jurors the instructions on what to consider when deliberating. Closing arguments are expected to start shortly.
Janice Auch Krause, an executive pastor at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, said she had known the twins’ mother, Angela Ozuna, for 30 years. They first met in 1984 when Ozuna was living at an orphanage in Fort Worth. Krause joined the Big Sister program and met regularly with Ozuna. By early 2011, Ozuna had turned to Krause for help caring for her youngest son and daughter.
“She was not in a situation to have kids,” Krause testified. “She was on the run. She wanted money. She always wanted her kids, but she continues not to care for them.”
Ozuna has a history of drug use and had been investigated numerous times by Child Protective Services for neglecting her children. She is currently serving time in state prison for violating parole on a drug possession charge.
Scott and Emily Garrett learned about the twins needing a new home through St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, where they were members. They stepped up to adopt the twins, whom they named Logan and Olivia.
The adoption was finalized on Sept. 30, 2011. On Oct. 11, 2011, Scott Garrett rushed to a neighbor’s house for help because Logan had been injured. Garrett said he had been rough-housing with the boy and wrestling with him on the bed when he started moaning. He said Logan’s eyes had rolled to the back of his head. He called 911 from the neighbor’s house, and Logan was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where he died.
When asked whether Krause regretted taking the twins and giving them to the Garretts, Krause testified: “I absolutely do.”
Collin County medical examiner William Rohr ruled Logan’s death a homicide and said the toddler died of blunt force injury to the abdomen.
David Posey, a medical expert hired by the defense, testified there was no evidence of blunt force injury. He said he believed Logan died of respiratory arrest caused by aspiration.
Also testifying Thursday was the investigator with Child Protective Services assigned to Logan and Olivia’s case after Logan’s death. Francis Lawson testified that his findings were that there was reason to believe for physical abuse and neglectful supervision of the twins.
Several witnesses reported the children having black eyes and genital bruising on several occasions. After Logan’s death, a doctor who examined Olivia said she had a healing food fracture, traumatic hair loss and weight loss.”
The jury of seven men and five women have found Scott Garrett of Frisco guilty of capital murder. There is a break in the proceedings, which will be followed by formal sentencing and a victim impact statement via video from Logan’s sister.
Garrett showed no reaction to the jury verdict.
District Judge John R. Roach Jr. sentenced Scott Garrett to life in prison without the possibility of parole after jurors convicted him of capital murder.
Roach told Garrett that he had an opportunity to provide a better life for the twins that they wouldn’t otherwise have had. Instead, the judge said, Garrett gave all adoptions a bad name.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Roach said. “I hope you rot in hell.””
Update: Frisco man found guilty of capital murder in toddler’s death[Frisco Blog 7/10/14 by Valerie Wigglesworth}
Recent Comments