GILLETTE, Wyo.— A Gillette man recently convicted of aggravated child abuse will be sentenced this summer, according to the Campbell County District Judges Office.
Tyler Bryan Martinson, 29, who was recently convicted of six counts of felony aggravated child abuse for breaking six bones belonging to his infant son, will be sentenced for the offenses on July 25, 2022, according to the Campbell County District Judge’s Office.
Each count of felony aggravated child abuse is punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, which means Martinson could potentially face as much as
Felony aggravated child abuse is punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine, which means Martinson could be facing up to 150 years of jail time and $60,000 in fines.
Martinson was convicted on May 10 after a jury found him guilty of recklessly breaking five bones belonging to his then 3-month-old son and breaking the child’s leg. The verdict came after a week-long trial in Campbell County District Court relating to the charges filed against Martinson in January 2021.
The jury acquitted Martinson on four counts of aggravated child abuse after the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Martinson was responsible for four corner fractures on the child’s legs.
Martinson was arrested on January 4, 2021, for 31 counts of felony aggravated child abuse, two days after he and the child’s mother, Keasha Bullinger, took the baby to the emergency room because he wasn’t using his right leg and his ribs were popping with each breath, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.
At the time, it was found that the child had 31 broken bones on his ribs and legs in various stages of healing. The trauma was initially diagnosed as child abuse by a doctor at Campbell County Health, a diagnosis that was later backed up by child abuse specialists at the Children’s Hospital Colorado where the baby was transferred for treatment.
During interviews with doctors and police, Martinson admitted to being too rough with the child on multiple occasions, describing in a recorded interview shown during his trial one instance where he held the baby up by his ankles, claiming it was what his chiropractor told him to do.
Martinson’s defense, Attorney Cassie Craven, presented the jury in the final days before the verdict with a separate theory that put the blame for the child’s injuries on the bone condition Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
During the defense’s case, it was revealed both the child and Bullinger received an EDS diagnosis by Dr. Michael Holick in Boston, Massachusetts., It was later revealed he had been fired from the University of Boston Medical Center for his research and has a history of diagnosing EDS in defense of parents accused of child abuse.
An EDS diagnosis was also attained from a California radiologist, who pointed out on a series of the baby’s x-rays multiple indicators of Rickets, a condition that was ruled out days earlier by a child abuse pediatrician who examined the baby in Colorado.
In their closing argument, however, Deputy County and Prosecuting Attorney Greg Steward pointed out that the defense had only managed to gain two medical opinions to present their case for EDS, whereas the state had a team of doctors and specialists backing the child abuse diagnosis.
The jury began deliberating for two hours on May 9 and, after an evening break, returned with their verdict shortly before noon on May 10.
The child’s mother, Bullinger, is still charged with multiple counts of child endangerment and has a change of plea hearing scheduled in Campbell County Circuit Court on Monday, May 16.
