‘No contest’ plea entered in child starvation case

The Greybull man who was charged earlier this year for starving his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son entered a plea change Oct. 29 in the Fifth Judicial District Court of Big Horn County.

Ty Myers, who had previously pled not guilty, entered a no contest plea to felony child abuse, which is punishable by not more than 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

For violating the terms of his probation related to a previous case, Myers also agreed to the reinstatement of an underlying three- to four-year jail sentence that was suspended in lieu of probation.

In exchange for his acceptance of those terms, prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) at sentencing.

Myers’ change of plea came less than a month after the child’s biological mother, Tammy Ann Hannon, aka Tammy Earl, pled guilty to felony aggravated child abuse. She is facing a possible sentence of up to 25 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

The charges against Myers and Hannon date to the period between Dec. 1, 2023, and Feb. 16, 2024, when they were living together in Greybull with Hannon’s children. She has five, but only two, the oldest and the newborn, with Myers.

Law enforcement received its first tip about
the condition of one of those children, identified in court documents as B.R., on Feb. 16, 2024, from a Department of Family Service worker, who stated that an unresponsive and lifeless child had arrived at the Three Rivers Health emergency room.

Hannon, who had taken the child there, told medical staff that the child began losing weight about two months earlier and had “tripped on a toy and hit his head on the floor” the previous day. Soon after, the child was transported to a hospital in Utah, where he weighed 18 pounds on arrival — the equivalent of an 8-month-old infant.

Dr. Margaret Russell, a child abuse pediatric fellow at Primary Children’s Hospital in Utah, told investigators “there was no way (the child) could have been playing or otherwise active” on Feb. 15, 2024 and that the child “presented with shock, dangerously high levels of sodium, extremely low oxygen levels resulting in respiratory failure, acute kidney injury, cachetic (severely malnourished as exhibited by obvious loss of muscle and fat mass) and a subdural hemato-hygroma.”

At her change of plea hearing last month, Hannon admitted that she had failed to provide nutrition and fluids to her son, that she was aware that his condition was a result of her actions and that he would be dealing with brain injuries resulting from swelling and dehydration for the remainder of his life. 

She also admitted that in court that day that her child hadn’t been up, playing around and acting like a normal child on Feb. 15, 2024, as she suggested to investigators, and that prior to that day, she had lied to family members about whether she’d taken the child to a doctor.

At his change of plea hearing last week, Myers was given the choice of entering a guilty plea, a no contest plea or offering an Alford plea to the child abuse charge.

He chose the no-contest option after being informed that the state would defer to the court on whether to assess a fine; he will be responsible for all court fees and assessments as ordered by the court to include $150 to the Wyoming Victim’s Compensation Fund. He may also be responsible for reimbursement to the Wyoming Public Defender’s Office.

Regarding CR-2020-7: Child Endangering/Probation Revocation, Myers agreed to “the reinstatement of his underlying sentence of three to four years and thereafter being served” and that “Count II of the Judgment and Sentence of 180 days underlying sentence in this case shall be reinstated and thereafter served.”  The state will defer to the court to determine whether the sentences should run concurrently or consecutively.

Myers will receive credit for pre-sentence incarceration beginning on March 11, 2024.  As part of the deal, Myers agreed that he will not seek a sentence modification.

The court ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed by Probation and Parole.

Myers is currently being held in the Big Horn
County jail, where bond is set at $105,000.