MADYSON BOGARD - 4 yo (2008) - Colorado Springs CO

Chrystie Marie Hardy wept today as she recalled standing by in the
bedroom while her boyfriend hit her daughter with a fatal blow to the
head.
“I was scared and did not call for help,” Hardy, 27, told 4th
Judicial District Judge Robert L. Lowery, as she pleaded guilty to
child abuse resulting in the death her 4-year-old daughter Madyson
Bogard.
By pleading guilty, Hardy avoided a trial on first-degree murder charge that had been scheduled to begin Jan. 25.


Instead, she will face a prison sentence of between 30 to 40 years
when Lowrey sentences her April 22. The normal sentencing range for
child abuse resulting in death is 16 to 48 years in prison.
On Oct. 4, Lowrey sentenced the boyfriend, Mark Alton Friend, to a
mandatory term of life in prison after a jury found him guilty in
August of first-degree murder in the child’s death.
Hardy’s plea came nearly two years to the date of the Jan. 15, 2008, incident in which her daughter was fatally injured.
Colorado Springs police responded to the couple’s apartment at 3710
Rebecca Lane after Hardy called 911 to report that her daughter had
stopped breathing.
During a preliminary hearing, investigators testified that the girl
was allowed to cry, vomit and go into convulsions for hours before her
mother called for help. She later died at Memorial Hospital. The El
Paso County coroner ruled that she died of closed head injuries.
At first, Hardy and Friend told police that the youngster had suffered a fall on the ice earlier that day.
But during an eight-hour interview with a detective, Friend admitted
to repeatedly “popping” the girl in the head. In one instance, the blow
caused her to fall backwards onto the floor, he said.