ARIANA MAGATHAN - 1 yo (2009) - Portland OR

Portland OR ---- A Multnomah County grand jury indicted a former Gresham resident this
week on felony murder and manslaughter charges related to the death of
her 1-year-old granddaughter last fall.Gresham police detectives arrested Carolyn Bellamy,
58, Thursday, May 27, at her home in Southeast Portland, a day after
the indictment. She is lodged without bail at the Multnomah County
Detention Center.

The charges are related to her granddaughter,
Ariana Magathan, who died Oct. 16 as the result of violent blunt force
trauma to the head, according to the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s
Office.

Bellamy, the girl’s sole caretaker, reported the
girl was unresponsive after falling out of a bed at home in the 21000
block of Southeast Ash Street around 6 p.m. Oct. 12, 2009.

Gresham Fire & Emergency Services and American
Medical Response personnel found the girl with an apparent head injury
and transported her to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland.

When medical personnel couldn’t make sense of the
reported cause of injury, they alerted Gresham police, who in turn
contacted the Child Abuse Team.

The Major Crimes Team also got involved in the
investigation as the girl was placed on life support. She died from the
injuries seven days before her second birthday.

A Gresham grandmother was indicted on manslaughter charges Friday in
the death of her two-year-old granddaughter.
Police believe Carolyn Bellamy caused blunt force trauma that
eventually killed little Ariana Magathan.


Ariana was rushed to the hospital on October 12 of last year, after
someone called 9-1-1 and reported that she had fallen out of bed and was
knocked unconscious. She was put on life support at Legacy Emanuel
Hospital but died four days later, just before her 2nd birthday.
“The cause of the injury was not making sense to medical personnel
who immediately called the Gresham Police Department. Patrol Officers
responded and notified the Child Abuse Team who began an investigation,”
explained Sgt Rick Wilson with the Gresham Police Department.
Bellamy was Ariana’s sole caretaker at the home at 21649 SE Ash in
Gresham.
The Major Crimes Team launched an intensive investigation, focusing
on Bellamy’s accounts of what happened that night.
“The Medical Examiner has described the cause of death as violent
blunt force trauma to the head. It has been agreed that the injury is
not consistent with a fall out of bed,” Wilson said.
The case was presented to a Multnomah County Grand Jury in May of
2010 and Bellamy was indicted for felony murder and Manslaughter.
She was arrested at her new home in Southeast Portland on Thursday
and booked in the Multnomah County Detention Center without bail.

Gresham grandma might have killed 1-year-old while distracted and on the phone, judge says
Published: Monday, October 18, 2010, 1:09 PM Updated: Monday, October 18, 2010, 3:39 PM
By Aimee Green, The Oregonian



A judge agreed that a 59-year-old Gresham grandmother accused of murdering her 1-year-old granddaughter should be allowed to post bail and be freed from jail pending trial.

In a pair of hearings that concluded today, Judge Janice Wilson said a prosecutor failed to persuade her there’s strong evidence Carolyn Bellamy intended to seriously hurt Ariana Magathan. Rather, the judge said the grandmother could have fatally injured the girl last October as she talked on the phone and became annoyed that the toddler had messed with her papers.

The judge set bail at $2.25 million, meaning Bellamy would need to come up with $225,000 to get out of jail, where she’s been since her May arrest. The judge said this may be the first time in 19½ years that she’s found the state didn’t successfully argue the legal standard necessary to hold a murder defendant in jail with no bail.

The judge, however, did say there’s strong evidence that Bellamy caused her granddaughter’s death - or in other words, committed manslaughter.

Few details of the case had been made public before the two hearings in Multnomah County Circuit Court. On Oct. 12, 2009, Ariana stopped breathing, Bellamy called 9-1-1 and Ariana was rushed to the hospital. Surgeons removed part of her skull to relieve pressure from her swelling brain. The girl’s heart stopped a few times, she was declared brain dead and she was taken off life support on Oct. 16, 2009. Some of her organs were donated.

Ariana would have turned 2 in another week.

Bellamy had been alone with Ariana in the home they shared in the 21600 block of Southeast Ash Street. She told police the toddler had fallen off a bed, which amounted to a 22-inch fall. But a doctor concluded Ariana died not from a short fall, but from head trauma after someone likely shook her violently or slammed her against something.

Investigators say Bellamy’s story changed, and she admitted differing degrees of guilt. In her third interview with a detective, at times she said she didn't remember if she shook Ariana. She also said “Obviously I did shake her. That’s what the doctor is saying. ... So OK, I did.”

Defense attorney Russ Barnett contended that his “small, frail, medically compromised” client couldn't have shaken Ariana to death. Ariana weighed 28 or 29 pounds. Bellamy is 4-foot 10-inches tall and has severe leg and back pain, according to her brother and mother, who attended the hearings to support her.

Other family members, including Ariana’s maternal grandmother and an aunt, sat in the courtroom in memory of Ariana. They think Bellamy violently lashed out at the toddler.

Bellamy faces charges of first-degree manslaughter and murder, and sentences ranging from 10 years to life if convicted. A trial date has been set for next year.

- Aimee Green

http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2010/10/gresham_grandma_might_have_kil.html

Gresham grandmother goes on trial in death of toddler


Published: Monday, July 18, 2011


Ariana Magathan was just 11 days shy of her second birthday in October 2009 when her grandmother, Carolyn Bellamy, called 911.

The girl, Bellamy told them, had crawled off a bed and fallen onto the floor. She wasn't breathing or responding.

But Multnomah County deputy district attorney John Casalino argued that Bellamy was just giving authorities a story to hide the fact that she had harmed the toddler, who died a few days later of blunt head force trauma. Rather, he said, Bellamy, who helped watch the child while her mother attended school, had shaken the girl so hard that the toddler sustained the deadly injuries.

Casalino made the accusations as Bellamy's trial opened Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Bellamy, who faces charges of felony murder and first-degree manslaughter, has waived her right to a jury trial. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Janice Wilson will decide her case.

Casalino said evidence from doctors will show that Magathan's injuries could not have been caused by falling 22 inches from the bed down to the carpeted floor. He added that Bellamy, who had been on the phone to try to get a rebate from Cricket Wireless, was frustrated because the toddler was getting into her papers that were spread on the bed where she sat with the child.

He added that Bellamy's own words at times suggest she had shaken the child.

But her attorney, Russell Barnett, said Bellamy, 60, has never shown signs of a temper or lashing out against her granddaughter -- or anyone else, for that matter.

He said a child-abuse expert that is expected to testify for the prosecution has "an agenda" and lacks the qualifications to back up his findings.

"Everything he can't explain is child abuse," Barnett said, adding that the grandmother could not physically have committed the injury to the 35-pound toddler that investigators accuse her of doing.

He said the girl had had numerous falls previously and had several times indicated pain in her head, which was written off by others as teething. But he said there may have been some other defect or injury that caused the bleeding and swelling in her brain.

"What happened to Ariana, quite honestly, nobody knows," he said.

The trial is expected to last several days.

http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2011/07/gresham_grandmother_goes_on_tr.html

Carolyn Bellamy of Gresham denies shaking granddaughter to death
July 25, 2011

A Gresham grandmother charged with killing her 23-month-old granddaughter denied Monday that she shook or jerked around the toddler, saying the girl went limp shortly after falling from a bed onto the floor below.

Carolyn Bellamy, 60, testified that she was on the phone with Cricket Wireless customer service when her granddaughter, Ariana Magathan, crawled off the bed. The girl had already slipped off the bed moments before, after Bellamy moved her away from a purse on the bed to stop her from pulling papers out of it, she said.

But this time, the toddler cried loudly after she fell. Ariana went into convulsions and then went limp in Bellamy's arms, she said. The girl died on Oct. 16, 2009, four days after the fall from the bed.

"I know what it all seems like," said Bellamy, who is charged with felony murder and first-degree manslaughter in the death. "I wish I did know what happened. But I don't know."

The state contends that Bellamy was annoyed with the toddler, who was getting into her purse as she prepared to call the cellphone company. Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney John Casalino argued that Bellamy shook the girl violently, causing abusive head trauma and severe swelling, according to doctors who testified at the trial.

Bellamy, Casalino said, has offered varying stories to police during the course of the investigation.

But the defense has said Bellamy, who is 4-feet-11 and 134 pounds and suffers from back and hip pain, could not have physically shaken the 30-plus-pound girl with the violence to kill her.

And Bellamy's brother and daughter -- Ariana's mother -- both testified that the toddler had sustained an earlier fall before the Oct. 12, 2009, fall, striking the front of her head on the ground when she fell from an outside deck's stairs at her grandmother's house.

Another witness, Bellamy's son's girlfriend, said the toddler had diarrhea at least three times, had complained of pain and seemed to be sleeping longer than normal several days after the deck fall and just before the Oct. 12 fall.

The girlfriend, Deanna Lewis, said she and her boyfriend were sharing a house with Ariana's father, and Lewis had helped watch the toddler during her visit. She also said she suggested to the girl's father that he call a doctor, but that he brushed off the advice.

The attorneys are expected to offer closing arguments Tuesday to Multnomah County Circuit Judge Janice Wilson, who will decide the case.

http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2011/07/carolyn_bellamy_of_gresham_den.html

Negligent homicide conviction in OR child's death.
Friday, July 29 2011
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A 60-year-old Oregon woman has been cleared of murder and manslaughter charges in the October 2009 death of her young granddaughter but a judge found her guilty of criminally negligent homicide.

Carolyn Bellamy will be sentenced Wednesday. The crime carries a recommended sentence of 16 to 18 months.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Janice Wilson ruled Friday that 23-month-old Ariana Magathan died at Bellamy's hands although the grandmother did not intend to cause serious physical injury or death. The Gresham woman had waived a jury trial.

Prosecutors alleged that Bellamy shook the child so severely she was brain dead. Bellamy maintained the toddler crawled off a bed and hit her head on the floor. She died four days later at a hospital.

The Oregonian reports the state argued Bellamy was frustrated with her granddaughter for getting into papers while Bellamy was on hold with a wireless company's customer service.
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/negligent-homicide-conviction-in-or-childs-death/a5713e3d492d4590a44dbfa8568267b9

Sentencing of Gresham grandmother in toddler's death delayed by wrangle over funeral costs
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Members of the legal system spent more time Wednesday discussing what it cost to bury a child than it did on the sentence to be imposed on the woman convicted killing the toddler.

What was expected to be a routine sentencing in a 2009 case offered a glimpse into the justice system and the obligations -- sometimes difficult --imposed on all players: defendant, relatives, prosecutor, defense attorney and judge.

Last Friday, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Janice Wilson found Carolyn Bellamy guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Ariana Magathan, her 23-month old granddaughter who later died in the hospital and was buried just before her second birthday.

Bellamy, who had been babysitting, said the girl fell off the bed, cried, convulsed and then went limp in her arms. The prosecutor argued that bleeding and swelling in her brain indicated she'd been violently shaken.

Everyone returned to Wilson's court Wednesday for sentencing, and there was little mystery about what would happen. Based on the crime and her lack of criminal history, Bellamy could be sentenced to a maximum of 18 months in prison. With time served and good behavior, Bellamy, in custody for more than 14 months, will soon be free.

While Ariana's father, grandmother and other aunts waited to read statements about how the girl's death had affected them a battle erupted over who legally could be called a victim and how much Bellamy should be forced to pay for her granddaughter's memorial and burial.

Multnomah County deputy district attorney John Casalino wanted Wilson to impose restitution of about $3,000 to reimburse the Oregon's Department of Justice Crime Victims' Services Division, which had paid for funeral costs. But Ariana's father's family had paid out of pocket to fly relatives to Oregon to attend the funeral, and Casalino wanted those costs covered, too.

Defense attorney Russell Barnett – saying he meant no disrespect to the family – said he was obligated to fight. The way he read Oregon law the relatives were not considered victims, even though they had clearly suffered.

Ariana's father sat with his family, all of whom shook their heads and fidgeted. After studying arcane portions of the Oregon statute, Wilson ruled that the family members were not victims.

Finally it was time for Ariana's father's family to speak to Bellamy, who sat motionless. Nearly two years of sadness burst forth: The birthdays never celebrated, proms never attended and the longing for a child ripped from them.

Barnett told the judge and courtroom that he instructed Bellamy, her brother and her 88-year-old mother, who sat in the front row, to make no comments. He said her "stoicism should not be seen as her denial or a lack of responsibility."

At sentencing, Wilson said she could not impose more or less than state law allowed. But after Bellamy is released, Wilson ordered she be placed on three years of probation, and not have any contact with a child.

"My hope is that at some point you come to terms with what you did," Wilson said. "Now it is only known to you, God and Ariana."

The matter over, Bellamy was led away in handcuffs. When Ariana's father and his fiance walked by, Bellamy's mother swiveled and stopped them. She told the couple she was sorry.

"Please don't think we are cold hearted," she said. "We are not."

The father said nothing, standing motionless before leaving the courtroom.

His fiance wiped her eyes, and as she walked past, she ran her hand across the old woman's shoulders.

http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2011/08/sentencing_of_gresham_grandmot.html