Cheyenne day care worker convicted of manslaughter gets probation

CHEYENNE — A former Cheyenne day care worker convicted in the death of an 8-month-old girl received probation Monday in Laramie County District Court. Kristina Eileen Croy was sentenced to five years of probation, with a suspended sentence of five to seven years imprisonment, by Laramie County District Judge Peter Froelicher. 
She was also ordered to pay $5,482.04 in restitution. 
In early April, a jury found Croy guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the September 2019 death of Malia Gavagan. Croy had been accused of placing the infant in a too-small swaddling device against her mother’s wishes and against state guidelines, leading to her death. 
Croy was also accused of directing an employee of her day care to lie to police following the incident, and of changing her story about the incident. An autopsy report concluded Malia died of positional asphyxia, meaning the infant’s position had prevented her from breathing properly, according to a probable cause affidavit. 
Croy initially pleaded not guilty to the charge in July 2020. 
The State of Wyoming, represented by Marcia Bean, asked that Croy not be allowed to care for any children under the age of 3 during her probationary period, excluding family members, and that she not be permitted to run a daycare or offer babysitting services. Croy’s attorney, Dion Custis, did not object to these conditions. 
In Wyoming, manslaughter is described as “unlawfully” killing a person “without malice, expressed or implied.” It carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. 
Involuntary manslaughter under this statute is assumed to be a result of recklessness. Custis told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Wednesday that it was a “tough case, hard case, sad case,” but that he felt the sentence given to his client was “very appropriate.” 
“She’s the ideal candidate for probation. There’s nothing in her background to warrant any type of prison sentence, and her conduct was obviously unintentional,” Custis said.
Marcia Bean, the county and prosecuting attorney for Big Horn County, had been appointed to prosecute the case in lieu of the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office. 
The victim’s grandmother, Eileen Gavagan, worked for former Laramie County DA Scott Homar as a victim-witness coordinator and maintains a connection with current DA Leigh Anne Manlove, who worked as a prosecutor in Homar’s office. 
Bean told the WTE on Wednesday that, while the state believes “an imposed prison sentence was warranted” in this case, the court has the final say, and that it understands a court “may see cases differently than the parties who litigate them.” 
At the sentencing hearing, Bean had asked for a prison sentence of three-and-a-half to 10 years for Croy. 
“The state hopes that the defendant understands the severity of this case and the impact it has had on the Gavagans,” the prosecutor said in an emailed statement. “The state also hopes that with the sentencing on Monday, which brings finality to this case, that the Gavagans will be able to begin the process of healing after the loss of their daughter and granddaughter at the hands of the defendant. 
“We hope that the sentence imposed against Kristina Croy will send a message to all day care providers that the (Wyoming Department of Family Services) rules regarding safe sleep and against swaddling are imposed for a reason: to ensure that babies don’t suffocate,” Bean concluded. 
Wyoming Child Care Licensing Rules posted on the DFS website say: “Sleeping infants shall not be swaddled without a licensed healthcare professional statement, including instructions and a time frame for swaddling an infant, on file. Swaddling is prohibited for infants that have the ability to roll over independently.” 
Before announcing his sentence, Judge Froelicher listed a number of aggravating and mitigating factors that he said he’d considered in the case. 
Aggravating factors included “the serious nature of the crime,” that the author of a pre-sentencing investigation said probation was not an appropriate consequence for Croy, and the devastating impact that the death of (Malia) has had on (her mother) Julianne and the rest of her family.” 
Among mitigating factors was Croy’s “very limited criminal history,” which includes a misdemeanor conviction for breach of peace in 2008, Froelicher said. Croy apparently completed a probationary term for this charge, and the judge said she had “done well” on bond in the manslaughter case. 
The judge also noted the author of the pre-sentence investigation (PSI) report said Croy was at “a very low risk to reoffend,” she does not need drug treatment and has “excellent support in the community.” 
The fact that the crime for which Croy was convicted was nonviolent and not intentional also worked in her favor, Froelicher said. 
In the end, the judge said he disagreed that Croy was not an appropriate candidate for probation. He also disagreed with the PSI author, and with statements of some on the prosecution side, that Croy had not shown remorse for causing Malia’s death. 
“I believe that Miss Croy is remorseful, and I believe she’s been remorseful from the start of this case. Remorse is not packaged into one little package of saying ‘I’m sorry’ immediately,” Froelicher said. “She stayed at the hospital. She intermittently cried and sobbed. I don’t think that was contrived in any way.” 
After the hearing, Eileen Gavagan said in an email to the WTE that her family was struggling with Froelicher having not “admonished Kristina Croy for her actions, and he never admonished her supporters. He said she was remorseful, yet everyone’s statements were attacking Malia’s health and saying that she never would’ve taken her into day care.” 
Custis said in his opening argument during Croy’s trial that Malia had medical issues that were not disclosed to Croy, and if they had been, she may not have taken the child into her care. 
This was reiterated by some of Croy’s supporters on Monday. 
Bean said at sentencing that Malia’s good health was “unrefuted,” and that Croy knew Malia had been born premature, but that this did not contribute to the child’s death.
Remorse was a topic throughout the sentencing hearing. 
Croy, seated with Custis and another person at the defense table, appeared to cry and wiped her eyes throughout the two-and-a-half-hour hearing. 
But in victim impact statements, some of Malia’s family members said they did not believe Croy was remorseful. Eileen Gavagan and Malia’s mother, Julianne Gavagan, accused Croy of making statements on social media that appeared to show a lack of remorse or responsibility. 
Julianne said Croy’s children and friends have “stalked” her social media pages, saying it was Julianne’s fault that Malia died. 
Also in their statements, Eileen, Julianne and Malia’s great-grandmother expressed the deep impact the 8-month-old girl’s death had on them. 
“A common thing I hear from people when they hear the story about Malia is ‘I would die if something happened to my child.’ I say to them, ‘I did die,’” Julianne Gavagan said. “The person my family knew as me is gone forever. I will never be the same. I will never fully feel joy or love or happiness again, because a piece of me is gone with Malia.” 
In an email to the WTE following the sentencing, Eileen Gavagan wrote: “Nothing will bring Malia back. A life sentence was handed to us when Malia died. Croy should have been incarcerated today, if only for a short period of time.” 
“I cannot fathom how we will live each day without being overwhelmed with sadness. But as I said yesterday, we will put Malia first, and we will hold her up, and we will make her proud,” Gavagan continued. “Her mother, Julianne, will try hard every day to live on without her girl. Hopefully, she will one day be able to feel happiness again. Right now, she is very angry – but that anger stems from sadness from the injustice of it all.”
Nine of Croy’s friends and family offered statements of support during the hearing. 
Several testified to Croy’s love of children, and said she was a good mom. They told anecdotes about times Croy had gone out of her way to help others, even strangers. Many said Croy was remorseful, to the point of being wracked with guilt, and that she would never hurt a child on purpose. 
Froelicher later underlined the fact that Croy had not been convicted of intentionally hurting Malia. 
“We’re deeply saddened and sorry about it, but accidents happen,” Croy’s husband said during the hearing.“It’s God’s will. Everything happens for a reason.” 
Through sobs, Croy gave a lengthy statement before her sentence was handed down. She apologized to Malia’s family, saying she couldn’t imagine what they’d been through. 
She also detailed how she’d been affected by the infant’s death, including nightmares, seizures and anxiety. Croy spoke about how her own family would be negatively affected if she were to go to prison, including emotional damage to her children and financial hardship. 
“There has already been too much pain (inflicted) on everyone involved,” she said.“I’m begging you, Your Honor, to have leniency on me when sentencing me.”
 
This story was published on July 28, 2022.