Children testify before sentencing in Kalispell abuse case

KALISPELL, Mont. – The testimony of adopted children about being beaten, denied food and locked in a basement led a judge to say the abuse case sounded more like torture.

After hearing the testimony Thursday, District Judge Robert Allison delayed the sentencing of Amy Newman and Crystal Mears on two counts each of felony criminal endangerment, saying he wanted to look at the results of a family neglect investigation that led to Newman losing custody of the children.

Mears was investigated but did not lose custody of her two children.

“The testimony I heard sounded like torture,” Allison said after hearing the statements of the children, ages 10 through 16.

Allison scheduled the sentencing for Nov. 18, the Daily Inter Lake reported.

Newman’s 16-year-old daughter testified that she taught her four younger siblings to pick locks on cupboards so they could steal food and that she tried to run away in order to have officials remove her from the home.

The girl said Newman had been an amazing mother until her divorce, after which Newman had two boyfriends who treated them poorly and then began a relationship with Mears, who also treated them badly.

A 10-year-old boy testified that the children were spanked a lot, and a 12-year-old boy said Mears’ two children were given regular meals, but he and his siblings were mostly given peanut butter sandwiches.

The boys testified they were locked in the basement at night with a bucket for a toilet and sometimes they didn’t have mattresses. The 12-year-old said he was sometimes beaten with a belt or hit on the fingers or bare toes as punishment.

The children testified it was Mears, 37, who instituted most of the punishment, contradicting the brief statements the women gave in pleading guilty earlier this year.

Newman, 46, acknowledged locking the children in the basement while Mears said she never did that.

Mears’ mother, Clara Mears, testified that the children had been coached and were lying to the court. Three of the five children rebutted Clara Mears’ testimony.

Crystal Mears declined to give a statement to the court.

Allison said he wanted to look at the neglect report before hearing from Newman.

“I’m not going to consider myself constrained to only the fairly scant facts that were testified to at the allocution,” Allison said.

Newman’s attorney, Sean Hinchey, objected to the review.

The women could be sentenced up to 10 years in prison.