Michael Ryan Harris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael had been waiting for someone to step in and help most of his life. The day Michael was born, he and his mother tested positive for marijuana. His mother Roseanna Key admitted that she had made a mistake and the case was closed. One month after Michael’s first birthday, on May 27, 2010, Adams County caseworkers were called back to Key’s home, which was found to be so cluttered it was difficult to walk through. Multiple choking hazards and drug paraphernalia were in the reach of Key’s three young children. Key admitted to smoking marijuana and said that her parents and roommate who often cared for the children also smoked marijuana and meth amphetamine. The children were removed from the home. Michael’s oldest brother went to live with his father while the two younger children were placed in foster care. Four months later, Key’s two youngest sons were returned to her, after she completed therapy, parenting classes and substance abuse classes. But before her children were returned, Key also began a relationship with Donald Scarlett, who would watch the boys while she was at work.

 

Roseanna heard her son crying, screaming from behind the door. But between the blows, as she listened to her boyfriend beat her 22 month old son Michael until she heard “the breath go out” of the toddler and his cries fall silent, Key never opened the door. She did not check on her son all night and left him alone with her boyfriend Donald Scarlett. The next morning when she went to work. Scarlett called 911 to report that Michael wasn’t breathing, doctors found bruises behind and in his ear, on his forehead and on his chest. Scarlett said the marks were made when Michael wedged himself between two pieces of furniture. The next time Key saw her son, doctors warned that Michael would likely not survive the injuries to his kidney, the lacerations to both his spleen and pancreas or the fracture to his skull. They were right. Michael died from his injuries on February 2, 2011.

 

 Key is serving 16 years in prison for her role in her son's death. Judge Melonakis, who imposed her sentence, said he would have given Key a longer prison term if the law had allowed it. Scarlett had initially been charged with murder for killing 22 month old Michael Ryan Harris, but a jury found him guilty of child abuse resulting in death. Scarlett is serving a 42 year sentence.

 

 

 

 

 

http://childfatalities.denverpost.com/#id=23&name=HarrisMichael