ER doctor describes injuries to Waterford toddler just before his death in 2019
An emergency room doctor testified Thursday about finding bruises all over Koltyn Blackwood of Waterford shortly before his death at 23 months.
Dr. Julia Magana was the first witness in a preliminary hearing in Tuolumne Superior Court for both defendants in the boy’s 2019 death.
Joseph Maloney, 26, is accused of inflicting the fatal injuries while babysitting Koltyn at his Sonora home. He faces a second-degree murder charge and up to life in state prison.
The boy’s mother, Nicole Sparks, 23, of Waterford, is charged with child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death. She could get up to six years in prison. Maloney was her boyfriend at the time of Koltyn’s death, officials said.
Magana is a pediatrician and part of a team that responds to suspected child abuse at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center in Sacramento. Koltyn was taken there by helicopter from Adventist Health Sonora hospital early on Jan. 15, 2019.
Magana said she was called in about six hours after Koltyn arrived, She reported finding bruises on his face, neck, chest, abdomen, shoulder, arm, hip, shin, ankle and foot. He also had a lacerated liver and bleeding on the outermost part of the brain, she said.
Magana discounted a suggestion from Maloney’s attorney, Robert Schell, that the injuries were typical of childhood.
“It is not common for a 23-month-old to have bruises on their torso, on their neck, on their ears ...,” she said.
Judge Donald Segerstrom will decide after the hearing whether Maloney and Sparks should stand trial.
Koltyn’s father is Joshua Blackwood of Oakdale. The boy would have turned 4 on Feb. 10, according to a post on a Facebook page devoted to his case and to child abuse victims in general.
Arrests came two years after death
Maloney is being held on $1 million bail following his Jan. 25 arrest at his home on South Shepherd Street. He appeared at Thursday’s hearing in a striped jail uniform and with wrist and ankle shackles.
Sparks is free on $25,000 bail after turning herself in to the Sonora Police Department on Jan. 26. She is represented by David Beyersdorf.
Magana is also an associate professor at UC Davis and has done research on detecting abuse in children who show up in ERs.
She described her interaction with Koltyn under questioning from Cassandra Jenecke, a deputy district attorney. The doctor said she consulted with earlier caregivers in the ER, then examined the child herself from head to foot.
Magana said Koltyn lay motionless on the bed, with tubes, monitors and other medical devices on his body.
“He wasn’t responding to any noise that I made, which is atypical in a 23-month-old,” she said.
Magana said she asked Sparks about Koltyn’s medical history and learned that he had a cold a few days earlier but was feeling better.
The hearing will continue Friday morning in the Sonora courtroom. The prosecution has yet to reveal details on how the injuries were inflicted, or why.
This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 10:47 AM.
