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April 2, 2010

State AG says area custody case needs a 2nd look

Staff and wire reports Enid News and Eagle

ENID — The Oklahoma attorney general and Major County District Attorney are asking for an emergency review of a decision granting custody of four Liberian-born girls to a couple convicted of abusing the girls’ sister.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson and prosecutor Hollis Thorp filed an emergency application Thursday seeking a stay and a review of District Judge Vinson Barefoot’s decision.

Barefoot ruled the children would remain with Ardee and Penny Tyler, who were convicted on one count of felony child abuse each and given 10-year suspended prison terms.

Penny Tyler was ordered to spend 60 days in Major County Jail, while Ardee Tyler’s entire sentence was suspended.

Edmondson says he’s troubled by the decision to keep the other four girls in the custody of the Tylers.

State Rep. Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, expressed his support for the emergency review.

“I strongly support the attorney general’s request for an emergency judicial review of this child custody case,” Hickman said. “The recommendation from DHS to place these children back in the home of convicted child abusers is hard to understand, and the judge’s decision concurring with this recommendation is beyond troubling.”

According to court documents, a 12-year-old girl, one of five adopted by the Tyler family in 2005, was abused, raped and assaulted by members of the family between 2005 and 2007.

The girl told a guardian she had been tied with rope and restrained to a bed in the basement of the residence, had been tied with rope to a chair during the same time period and was forced to sleep outside the house when the temperature was cold.

The Tylers’ son, Ashton, 20, received two years in prison and eight years suspended after being convicted on a felony count of rape by instrumentation against the girl.

Their daughter, Nathania, 21, also was sentenced to 90 days suspended on a misdemeanor count of assault and battery against the girl.

All members of the family had pleaded no contest in the case.



Staff writer Joe Malan and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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