The New Mexico Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions of two former Portales daycare workers in the death of 22-month-old Maliyah Jones after being left in a hot car in 2017.
Sandi Taylor, 31, and Mary Taylor, 62, were
convicted in February 2019 of one count of child abuse resulting in death and one count of child abuse resulting in great bodily harm, following a lengthy trial.
On July 25, 2017, Portales police responded to a call for what was described as infant children who were left in a hot car at an in-home daycare.
Reports state the Taylors, owners of Taylor Tots, had driven 12 children in their care to a local park in two SUVs. When they returned, ten of the children were taken inside but the appeal states Sandi and Mary Taylor “failed to remove Victims from the SUV, and both remained buckled in their car seats.”
One child, 22-month-old Maliyah Jones, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other, two-year-old Aubrianna Loya, was taken to a Lubbock hospital with critical injuries.
Authorities reported they believe the children were inside the vehicle for two hours and forty minutes, on a day when temperatures outside reached 91 degrees.
According to court documents, paramedics on scene confirmed Maliyah died of a heat stroke, and Aubrianna suffered life-threatening injuries, requiring her “to relearn how to talk, walk, eat, and breathe by herself.”
The discussion from the New Mexico Court states the appeal from the Taylors, “requires us to determine whether a defendant who acts recklessly can still be convicted of child abuse even where the defendant is unaware that he or she committed an act or omission (i.e., forgetting and leaving a child unattended in a vehicle).”
In their appeal, the Taylors argued there is insufficient evidence to support their convictions because they did not know they left the children unattended in the SUV and therefore: “they didn’t knowingly act or fail to act,” adding: “the State failed to show Defendants acted with a reckless disregard for the safety of Victims.”
According to the Court’s response: “The State disagrees and contends that reckless child abuse does not require that a defendant be aware that he or she is acting or failing to act. Rather, the State argues that Defendants’ convictions are supported by sufficient evidence because “Defendants knew [Victims] were originally in the [SUV,]” Defendants ‘created risk by failing to take [Victims] out of the [SUV,]’ and Defendants ‘then disregarded that risk by leaving them there.’”
The Taylors argued the district court failed to “properly instruct the jury,” and an accumulation of errors “deprived them of a fair trial.” Documents from the court say no error was made in instructing the jury and there was no prejudice or cumulative error.
In their appeal, the Taylors also requested one child abuse conviction be vacated on the grounds that Maliyah’s death and Aubrianna’s injuries were “unitary conduct” and one conviction violated the prohibition against double jeopardy. The court denied this request, stating the convictions for reckless child abuse, “do not violate the prohibition against double jeopardy because each Victim suffered unique and distinct injuries constituting multiple violations.”
In March of 2019, following conviction, Mary Taylor was sentenced to the maximum of 36 years in prison, and Sandi Taylor was sentenced to 30 years.
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