Couple sentenced for starvation of 4-year-old
A 25-year-old Greybull woman and her 37-year-old boyfriend will each spend over a decade behind bars for nearly starving her 4-year-old son to death between December 2023 and February 2024.
Tammy Ann Hannon and Ty Lewis Myers were sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 21 in the Fifth Judicial District Court of Big Horn County. Judge Bobbi Overfield presided over the four hour hearing and ultimately followed the state’s sentencing recommendations in both cases.
Myers was sentenced to eight to 10 years in jail for felony child abuse, to which he earlier pled no contest. Because he violated the terms of probation on an earlier drug conviction, he must also serve the additional three to four years in jail that had been suspended. Overfield ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, not concurrently, which the defense petitioned the court to consider. A misdemeanor drug charge against Myers was dismissed.
Hannon, who in October pled guilty to aggravated child abuse, received a sentence of 12 to 18 years at the Wyoming Women’s Center. While the charge carries a maximum sentence of up to 25 years, the state agreed to cap its sentencing recommendation at 12 to 18 years, which the judge supported.
During the sentencing, the court heard testimony from an emergency room physician’s assistant, who treated the boy when he arrived at Three Rivers Health on Feb. 16, 2024; a pediatric care physician with access to his medical records; and the child’s caregiver, who has had custody of him since his return from a Salt Lake City hospital last April. In court documents, the child was referred to as “B.R.”
Testimony
Called to testify by Big Horn County Attorney Marcia Bean, Steven Gard told the court that he was working a 24-hour shift in the Three Rivers Health emergency room on Feb. 16, 2024, when Hannon arrived around 8 a.m. carrying B.R. The first nurse they encountered immediately realized the child’s condition was serious, placed him on a gurney and summoned Gard, who found the boy unresponsive with bruises on both sides of his head.
Gard stated that B.R.’s oxygen level at intake was 77% — the brain begins dying when it dips below 80% — and that he had an elevated heart rate of 123 beats per minute. The child weighed 18 pounds on arrival, Gard said, describing him as “skin and bones,” and lab work revealed very low sodium and potassium levels. When combined, these symptoms were life threatening.
He said their initial priority was opening B.R’s airway, which was obstructed by a chicken nugget lodged behind his epiglottis. A flight crew was subsequently summoned to transport B.R., first to Billings, then — when his condition was deemed too serious — to Salt Lake City. As he watched and assisted, Gard wasn’t optimistic.
“I thought that he would die,” Gard said.
Dr. Santa J. Bartholomew, who serves as an expert witness on cases such as these, was called by the state to testify next.
Bartholomew said a review of B.R.’s medical history revealed he’d been in the 60th percentile for weight when he was born at the Billings Clinic. At a normal growth rate, he should have been close to 60 pounds by the age of four. Instead, he weighed 18 pounds — within the last percentile for a child his age — and had damage to his brain, kidneys and other organs.
Bartholomew left no doubt as to the cause. “His parents starved him,” she said.
Dr. Bartholomew also testified to the family’s dynamic: Myers is the biological father of two of Hannon’s five children, the oldest and the youngest. The middle three, B.R. being the eldest, have a different biological father. She said multiple family members reported that Myers treated B.R. differently; some suggested it was because he looked like his biological father.
Katherine Deford, in whose care B.R. has resided since last April, described his first few months of rehabilitation as very challenging. She told the court B.R. initially didn’t have the strength to walk and, when he talked, would not say more than two or three words. Since then, he’s had frequent medical checkups, undergone speech, physical and occupational therapies, and received counseling.
Deford said she once overheard B.R. tell a group of friends he “died at his house,” but other than that, he doesn’t speak much about the past.
“I’ve seen growth in every single area,” she said, noting he is now able to walk, jump and run, “although it does require a lot of thought and effort and doesn’t seem natural yet.
“Emotionally, he’s able to express himself more, even being willing to cry if he’s upset. His speech has improved and he is able to speak in full sentences. Although (his) enunciation is difficult to understand, my family and I can understand because we spend a lot of time with him.”
In her victim’s impact statement, Deford said in the last year “there hasn’t been a time he’s been away from me for more than a few hours,” adding, “I know him, I love him and I’m thankful for him.”
Deford said the recent contact B.R. has had with his mother and other biological family members has caused extreme emotional exhaustion and stress, and set back his progress. She added that at no point has his mother apologized for what she did.
“His life has been assaulted,” said Deford. “What happens today can never undo or right the horrors (B.R.) has suffered at the hands of those who were supposed to lay down their own lives for him. However, the results of today directly impact all the children of the Big Horn Basin. If justice won’t be served today, why would it be served tomorrow? The results today will send a message.”
Myers
In a letter to the court, Myers requested a sentence of 3-5 or 4-6 years.
Myer’s attorney David Ziemer asked the court to balance the severity of the offense — which he acknowledged was “as bad as it gets” — against the character of his client. While Myers has a criminal record, Ziemer said it was for drug-related, non-violent offenses. Ziemer added that Myers works 20 of every 30 days in the oil field and side jobs when he comes home, and has been faithful about paying child support for his other children. No history of physical violence in the home was alleged.
When offered the opportunity for allocution, Myers said he “worked too much” and wasn’t home for long periods of time, but expressed regret for what happened to B.R. “I want more than anything to see him and apologize to him for not being there for him,” Myers said, adding that the same applies to Hannon.
“If I could go back and change a million decisions, I would, but I can’t,” he said. “All I can do is keep moving forward.” Myers said he hopes to one day “make good memories with my children, run a business with them and teach them not to go down the road I went down.”
Bean challenged Myers’s account, offering proof that he was home for most of December, January and February when the abuse took place, that he’d placed cameras in the home to monitor Hannon and the kids, and was controlling and emotionally abusive in their relationship.
Bean argued for the maximum sentence. She described what Myers and Hannon did as “a systematic withholding of food and water” and said it will cause B.R. to be disabled for the rest of his life.
“I can think of nothing worse than abusing a 4-year-old child ... who did nothing wrong ... and is in the world through no choice of his own,” she said.
Overfield acknowledged Myers’s no contest plea, which avoided a lengthy trial, and his willingness to seek treatment and counseling, but cited his criminal history, continued drug use — including in the home he shared with Hannon — probation violation and the calculated nature of the crime as aggravating factors.
“This child was moments away from potential death,” Overfield said. “There really couldn’t have been much more harm.”
Hannon
While insisting there was no defense for the crime, Hannon’s attorney Timothy Blatt asked the court to consider what brought Hannon to that point, citing her difficult childhood and lack of a father figure as well as the controlling nature of her boyfriend and fear of being abandoned.
Prompted by Blatt, Hannon said the only father-daughter relationship she had was with a man who wasn’t her biological father, but in her life from birth to the fifth grade. She said she never knew her biological father and does not have a good relationship with her mother’s current husband.
Hannon testified that she met Myers at 11, started dating him when she was in high school (and he was in his late 20s) and became pregnant at 17, which prompted him to end the relationship. She had her first child at 18.
She entered a relationship with another man, whom she’d known in high school, and proceeded to have three more children with him, but when that relationship ended, she had no job, four kids and nowhere to live. At her parents’ urging, she said she moved in with Myers and they rekindled their relationship. After Myers was laid off, he grew angry and controlling, installing surveillance cameras to monitor her activities when he was away.
In late 2023, Hannon was pregnant with her fifth child — her second with Myers — and having complications. She said she spent a lot of time in bed and wasn’t attentive to any of her children’s needs.
Blatt asked Hannon why she never stepped up to protect her son, especially when Myers was away.
“I have no explanation,” said Hannon. “I bailed.”
Hannon told the court she regretted that she couldn’t “say sorry to (B.R.) or the other kids,” and for not being “the mom I was supposed to be for them.”
Blatt said the combined effects of a challenging pregnancy, Hannon’s fear of Myers and what would happen if she ended the relationship — specifically, being left to raise five children on her own with no income and no support from family or friends — clouded her judgement.
“We are here today because Miss Hannon had an obligation to put a stop to it,” he said. “She had an obligation to step in and say, ‘I’m not going along with this. I’m getting my kids out of here, I’m getting protection.’
“She didn’t do that, and she doesn’t have an explanation for why, (but) the evidence clearly indicates we wouldn’t be here if she didn’t end up back with Mr. Myers.”
Bean countered that argument, stating, “She was entrusted with the care and wellbeing of her child and she consciously chose to starve him. The emotional and physical toll on this child is going to be lifelong. This child is going to suffer longer than she will, longer than any prison sentence.”
Overfield sided with the state.
“Ultimately, Miss Hannon, you were the mother of this child and it was your number one obligation to make sure he was safe in that role. Unfortunately, you failed,” the judge stated. “The court can feel sorry for you based on the life you’ve lived and the circumstances you are in ... but ultimately, it was your decisions that brought you here.”