Foster mom gets 14 years in toddler death

Foster mom gets 14 years in toddler death - SignOnSanDiego.com

BY KRISTINA DAVIS
FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2011 AT 1:02 P.M.


NANCEE E. LEWIS
Linda Coleman is arraigned in July 2007 in connection with the death of toddler Malachi Roberts-McBride.


PHOTO BY NELVIN C. CEPEDA
Mourners hold photos of Malachi Roberts-McBride at his funeral in July 2007, just days before he would have turned 2 years old.


PHOTO BY NELVIN C. CEPEDA
Family members bury Malachi Roberts-McBride following a funeral.

SAN DIEGO — A longtime San Diego foster mother was sentenced to 14 years in prison Friday for the abuse she inflicted on a toddler who died in 2007 before he could reach his second birthday.

Linda Faye Coleman, 51, pleaded guilty in January to child abuse, along with two special-circumstance allegations of inflicting great bodily harm and willfully causing injury and harm to a child resulting in death.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles G. Rogers also ordered Coleman to pay more than $8,600 in restitution to the county to cover the burial expenses for Malachi Roberts-McBride, who died from blunt-force trauma on June 29, 2007.

Malachi’s mother, Keisha Roberts, who was a 15-year-old foster child herself when she became pregnant, did not attend the hearing Friday. But she told a probation officer recently that she felt cheated by the sentence agreed to in the plea deal.

“How do you kill someone’s kid and have the possibility of getting out (of jail)?” she told the officer, according to court documents.

Roberts, who is about to give birth to her second son, has filed a lawsuit against Coleman and San Diego County in the death.

The judge said in court Friday that he was struck by the starkly divergent views of Coleman when comparing the facts of the case to statements from Coleman’s supporters, who paint her as a trustworthy and loving caretaker.

Friend Robin Simon, who was among the supporters crowded into the courtroom, told the judge that she had “peace of mind” when she allowed Coleman to watch her two grandchildren each day.

“Linda is one of the most caring, conscientious, hardworking people I know,” she said. “She had a special gift of love she pours into every child.”

Court documents released Friday reveal the troubled start to Malachi’s life and the circumstances leading up to his tragic end.

Roberts was 16 when she gave birth, and she was able to stay in school and live with him at her foster home. The baby suffered from asthma, hernias and was slightly delayed in development. He underwent surgery for a heart defect.

As she neared 18, the thought of being turned out on her own as a single mother with adult responsibilities scared her, and she ran away, leaving Malachi behind.

He was then sent to live with Coleman in San Diego’s Mountain View neighborhood.

Coleman, who was caring for her two grandchildren and another foster child, was thought to be a good fit. Another child with similar health problems had thrived under her care.

On June 27, 2007, Coleman called 911 reporting Malachi was seizing. She told authorities he had a spoon in his mouth, and when she took it out, he had trouble breathing. A small amount of blood was found in his mouth, and he was unresponsive to loud noises or gestures, according to records.

At the hospital, doctors found retinal hemorrhages and bruising all over his body, including on his ears, face, foot and torso. Marks on his legs and buttocks were in the shape of a spoon. Doctors also concluded that internal bleeding had shifted his brain, and he was put on life support.

He died two days later. The Medical Examiner’s Office found 29 different angles of injury to the head.

Coleman was arrested July 3 and denied harming the child, saying he often fell.

The death devastated Roberts, who by that time was being housed at the county’s children’s home. She turned to drugs to numb the pain and guilt, and the addiction led to arrests.

“I lost everything because of this,” she recently told a probation officer.

kristina.davis@uniontrib.com • (619) 542-4591 • Twitter @kristinadavis