ID - Kuna, Gwen and Byron Buthman starved & mistreated adopted daughter, got probation

[Howl]

Note: I can't change the title, but I'm not clear at this point if the child was adopted or being fostered.

Gwen and Byron Buthman were indicted in 2019 and convicted in 2022 of "felony injury to a child with an enhancement for producing great bodily harm, and a misdemeanor count of injury to a child". They were sentenced recently. The prosecution requested 20 years, with a minimum of five years in prison. The judge gave the couple 300 hundred hours of community service with no prison time. The couple was not held after their arrest; they spent a night in jail and posted bail.

The abuse was egregious. As reported by EastIdahoNews.com, Couple accused of abusing, starving child to the point she suffered cardiac arrest, these are the abuses alleged in the 2019 indictment;

• Isolating her from her siblings and family.

• Forcing her to eat while sitting on the ground and/or eat outside.
• Making her sleep on the laundry room floor.
• Making her sleep with no bedding and/or pillow.
• Making her take cold showers and/or baths.
• Only providing her with a protein powder/textured vegetable protein in place of meals.
• Providing her only two sets of clothing for over a year as punishment for soiling herself.
• Not allowing her to play and/or withholding all toys.
• Forcing her to do inappropriate chores such as picking up animal feces.
• If chores were not completed, forcing her to stay outdoors for extended periods of time.
• Not allowing her to partake in celebrations.
• Making her use a bucket to relieve herself.
• Leaving her outside for extended periods of time without adequate clothing.
• Not allowing her to be hugged and/or shown affection.
• Not celebrating her birthday.
• Not allowing her to be with her family on holidays.
• Placing her in a group home.

"Due to the victim’s extreme malnourishment, and an event where the victim was forced to stand outside in the winter cold with only a diaper on, the victim went into cardiac arrest in October of 2017, at the age of five." She went back home and the abuse continued.

The child, now age 10, testified at trial that she was so hungry at one point that she ate toilet paper.

Kuna couple convicted of child abuse will not serve jail time.

There is so much information lacking. For example, the child went into cardiac arrest at age five. Surely she must have ended up in an ER, yet her malnourished condition didn't raise red flags? What finally made authorities aware of the abuse? How many other siblings are there and how old? Do they still live at home? Did the siblings contribute to the abuse? Were the siblings able to corroborate these events?

 

[tlcya]

In the fall of 2022, a then-10-year-old girl was handpicked by her coach to shoot the winning soccer goal in a shootout, sending her team to the championship. “She’s a force to be reckoned with on the field,” her now-adoptive mother, Kristin, told the Idaho Statesman by phone. Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Daniel Dinger said it’s lucky that the girl is even alive.

The girl, now 11, suffered a heart attack in 2017 — at the age of 5 — after her then-adoptive parents Gwendalyn and Byron Buthman malnourished and injured her.

[snip]
“At the end of the day, you have a choice to make, and I hope that you make the right choice,” Kristin told the judge.

[snip]
The judge rationalized that any additional time incarcerated could negatively impact their other four adoptive children, and that they’ve already suffered “substantial penalties” outside of the judicial system. The probation went against the prosecution’s recommendation.

[snip]
The Buthmans were also placed on a withheld judgment, which means that they can ask the court to vacate their convictions if they follow the terms of their probation. The decision by Williamson garnered gasps from the courtroom. The Buthmans’ attorney Matthew Williams said that even with probation and the withheld judgment, Gwendalyn and Byron Buthman may not be able to return to their old jobs. Byron Buthman lost his job as a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, and Gwendalyn Buthman’s teaching certificate is up in the air.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article273802340.html

This is outrageous. That judge should stay retired and not hear even so much as the occasional case. WTF? [pardon my language but I am just shook!]

Judge grants withheld judgment, no jail for Kuna couple convicted of felony child abuse

 

[Howl]

The Buthmans’ attorney Matthew Williams said that even with probation and the withheld judgment, Gwendalyn and Byron Buthman may not be able to return to their old jobs. Byron Buthman lost his job as a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, and Gwendalyn Buthman’s teaching certificate is up in the air.

I actually gasped when I read this. A nurse and a teacher did these horrible things?
And it sounds as though the four other adopted children are allowed to stay in the home?
No jail time is just egregious judicial malfeasance.