A jury trial began Tuesday for a Crawfordsville woman who is facing two felony neglect charges that stem from the catastrophic injuries her infant daughter sustained in August of 2019.
Megan L. Marshall, 26, is charged with one felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in catastrophic injury and one felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury.
A jury of six men and six women were selected to hear testimony in the trial that is expected to take three days in Montgomery Circuit Court.
Marshall’s infant daughter, Charlie Marshall, was seriously and permanently injured while in the care of Megan Marshall’s boyfriend, Dylan T. Myers, 31, of Crawfordsville. In the summer of 2019, three-month-old Charlie Marshall suffered physical abuse that caused a brain injury, retinal hemorrhaging, and rib fractures. She was transported to Riley Hospital for Children for treatment and spent six weeks there in a medically induced coma.
A jury found Myers guilty in October 2022 on a felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in catastrophic injury. The jury found him not guilty on a felony count of aggravated battery that inflicts injury that causes serious permanent disfigurement and not guilty on a count of battery with serious bodily injury to a person under age 14.
In December 2022, Myers was sentenced to 30 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections. He maintained his innocence throughout his trial, saying the child had been in the care of his sister, Destiny Myers, that day and that he would not hurt the child. Myers is appealing his conviction and sentence.
Destiny Myers was never charged in the case.
In his opening statements, Montgomery County Prosecutor Joseph Buser said Dylan Myers was responsible for the infant’s injuries, but that her mother, Megan Marshall, allowed the situation to occur.
“She saw Dylan Myers was rough with her child,” Buser said. “She saw the red flags — things a mother should know ... She chose to ignore the red flags.”
Dylan Myers also had a prior conviction in Boone County for neglect of a dependent. In that case, another toddler that was not his biological child was injured while in his care. That child also required medical attention at Riley Hospital.
Buser said Marshall ignored her boyfriend’s past legal troubles and placed her child in a dangerous situation.
Defense attorney Bryan Coulter of Lafayette told jurors in his opening remarks that Marshall did not do anything to directly hurt her child.
“She’s not a criminal,” he said. “She’s a good mother. She’s a victim.”
He added that dating a man who was on probation was not a crime, and that she was not told that Myers was not allowed around children.
Buser called four witnesses Tuesday, including Dixie Coudret, who has a child with Dylan Myers in August of 2018. She testified that she did not trust Myers and that any visitation he had with their child was supervised.
Other witnesses on the stand Tuesday included Destiny Myers, who recounted the events of Aug. 22, 2019 — the day Charlie Marshall was critically injured. She said the child had been a little fussy but was fine. She said her brother arrived home from work and began taking care of the child. It was during that time that Destiny Myers believes Dylan Myers injured the child in a back bedroom, where he was getting the infant ready for bed. Destiny Myers also testified that is when she heard a yelp, like a puppy being stepped on, come from Charlie Myers.
Shortly thereafter, the infant then began to have a seizure. This occurred as Marshall was arriving home from work with her other two children and 911 was called.
Karen Crispin, the mother of Dylan and Destiny Myers, also testified. She was briefly at the apartment before her son arrived and did not believe the infant was injured or in distress while she was there.
The final witness to take the stand Tuesday was Det. Lt. David Long with the Crawfordsville Police Department. He testified that his initial investigation focused on Marshall and both Dylan and Destiny Myers. However, he said after police learned from medical personnel that some of the infant’s injuries were older, the focus narrowed to Dylan Myers and Marshall.
The jury viewed two recorded interviews Long had with Marshall in the days after the child was injured. During those interviews Marshall told investigators her children came first, and that if she thought her boyfriend was hurting them, she would break up with him. Later she admits during questioning she witnessed Dylan Myers being rough with Charlie, but she didn’t think she was hurt. She said she would tell him to stop and then take the infant from him.
She was recorded telling Long and a Child Protective Service representative “he was hurting my baby and I was letting it happen.”
The trial resumes today with Long back on the witness stand.
