Judge: Man accused of hurting Waterford toddler in 2019 must face murder trial
A judge ruled Tuesday that a Sonora man must stand trial on a charge of murder in the death of Waterford toddler Koltyn Blackwood in 2019.
Joseph Luke Maloney, 26, is accused of injuring the boy while babysitting him. The decision followed a preliminary hearing that started March 4 in Tuolumne Superior Court.
Judge Donald Segerstrom delayed until Friday his ruling on whether Koltyn’s mother, 23-year-old Nicole Sparks, of Waterford, should be tried on a charge of child abuse likely to produce great bodily harm and death.
Sparks is not accused of assaulting Koltyn, but the prosecution said she put him at risk by leaving him with a man who might be violent. Maloney was Sparks’ boyfriend at the time of the child’s death.
The prosecution said it does not know exactly how Koltyn was assaulted, but the result was a ruptured liver that led to his death the next day.
“He suffered a laceration to his liver that was the result of blunt force trauma,” Segerstrom said. “... It was a substantial force that was applied to the abdomen of this child.”
The judge ordered Maloney to return March 19 for further arraignment on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse. A trial date has not been set. The defendant remains in Tuolumne County Jail on $1 million bail.
Members of Koltyn’s family attended the entire hearing but declined to comment on the outcome to The Modesto Bee. So did Maloney’s attorney, Robert Schell, of Sutter Creek in Amador County.
Maloney faces up to life in prison if convicted. Sparks could get six years if she is tried and convicted.
Arrests came two years after death
Koltyn also was the son of Joshua Blackwood of Oakdale. The family created a Facebook page in the child’s honor in 2019 and held several protests about the pace of the investigation into his death.
Maloney was arrested by the Sonora Police Department on Jan. 25 this year. Sparks turned herself in the next day and was freed on $25,000 bail.
The injuries allegedly happened at Maloney’s home on the 500 block of South Shepherd Street. The investigation showed that no one else was there at the time, said Deputy District Attorney Cassandra Jenecke.
Sparks had left Koltyn there because she had to work a shift starting at 3 p.m. at Chicken Ranch Casino in Jamestown, the prosecutor said. A roommate was there until about 4 p.m. and reported no injury to the boy, Jenecke said.
Koltyn had caught a cold a few days earlier but was feeling better, according to the prosecution. Late in the evening, Jenecke said, Maloney told Sparks by text that the child had gone “completely limp” while sleeping on a futon.
Sparks drove to the home, and at Maloney’s suggestion, they put the child in a lukewarm shower to try to revive him, Jenecke said. They then drove Koltyn to Adventist Health Sonora, half a mile to the east.
The emergency room staff at the hospital found that Koltyn had bleeding on his brain, and blood tests indicated a lacerated liver, Jenecke said. The boy was taken by helicopter to the University of California, Davis, Medical Center in Sacramento. He died there at 3:34 p.m. on Jan. 15.
A pediatrician testified Thursday that she found bruises all over Koltyn at UC Davis, along with the liver and brain injuries.
Exactly how Koltyn died is unknown
The prosecution produced no evidence about whether Koltyn might have been hit with an object or what led up to his injuries. Jenecke noted that Maloney invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during questioning by detectives.
The prosecutor also cited testimony that Koltyn’s death could not have been caused by a fall or other accident. His injuries were inflicted, she said, “by his caregiver at the time ... and that is Mr. Maloney.”
Schell did not call his own witnesses during the hearing. Most of his questioning of the prosecution experts involved whether their testimony was inadmissible hearsay.
The defense attorney did make a closing argument that noted a lack of direct evidence.
“You don’t know who caused this liver laceration,” he said. “There is no evidence that Mr. Maloney did it.”
Supposed warning signs of abuse
The prosecution said Maloney had shown signs earlier that he should not be trusted to watch after a child. This included a time in 2018 when he picked up the baby Koltyn too roughly, Jenecke said. She also cited an alleged instance involving Maloney’s own daughter when he insisted that she eat against her will.
“Did Ms. Sparks have the requisite knowledge to believe that leaving Koltyn with Mr. Maloney could have endangered him?” Jenecke asked.
Sparks’ attorney, David Beyersdorf, of Sonora, said the supposed danger signs from Maloney were not serious enough to prompt his client not to trust him.
Beyersdorf said Sparks showed great concern about her son’s health when responding from work to Maloney’s texts, and she was the one who said they had to take Koltyn to the Sonora hospital.
“She’s taking steps to figure it out, to understand what’s happening with the child,” Beyersdorf said. “... That’s not criminal. That’s what any parent would do.”
The judge said he will rule on Sparks’ fate at about 11 a.m. Friday in the Sonora courthouse.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 7:56 PM.
