Injured Holton child awarded $109 million

A Topeka teen has been ordered by a judge in Jackson County District Court to pay more than $109 million to the family of a Holton boy who reportedly suffered permanent brain damage and other debilitating injuries as the result of an April 2014 incident, it was reported.

District Court Judge Janice D. Russell on Friday awarded a total civil judgment of $109,974,689.98 against Koylen McKinney, 19, to the family of 2-year-old Romeo Whitebird, according to Topeka attorney Dan Lykins, who is representing Whitebird and his mother, Larissa Whitebird.

The financial judgment against McKinney, according to court documents, includes about half a million dollars in medical bills already racked up since the incident occurred, as well as a $104 million estimation of costs for Romeo Whitebird’s future care through the age of 68.

Lykins said Romeo Whitebird was seven months old at the time that McKinney “willfully and maliciously” injured Romeo at the Southview apartment complex in Holton. As a result of the incident, Lykins said, Romeo has permanent brain damage, is blind, will need to use a feeding tube and will need constant medical care for the rest of his life.

McKinney, who was not present for Friday’s judgment hearing, is presently serving a nine-year sentence at Lansing Correctional Facility for the crime. According to court documents, McKinney was served with summons to appear in court on the civil case but has not responded to the Whitebird family’s civil suit against him.

Lykins said it was doubtful that the Whitebird family would recover the full amount of the judgment against McKinney, but noted arrangements were being made with the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota to deposit monies into a trust fund that would go toward expenses related to Romeo’s care. McKinney is a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes, it was reported.

Because of his membership in the Three Affiliated Tribes, Lykins said, McKinney stood to collect royalties from oil production on tribal lands for the rest of his life, but the attorney vowed to take action to make sure those monies would go into the trust fund from now on. Efforts will also be made to garnish any wages earned or other assets or sources of income gained by McKinney following his release from prison, Lykins added.

“Whatever McKinney has, we plan to garnish,” Lykins said. “We plan to follow Mr. McKinney for as long as we can to obtain justice for Romeo.”

McKinney, who was 17 at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty to criminal charges of aggravated battery, abuse of a child and aggravated endangerment of a child in connection with the April 2014 incident last December. He was sentenced to 109 months imprisonment on the charges in January.

Lykins said that at the time of the incident, McKinney and Larissa Whitebird were reportedly in a dating relationship. She asked McKinney to take care of Romeo while she had to go to work at the Sac and Fox Casino since the regular babysitter was not available.

During McKinney’s criminal sentencing in January, his attorney, Randy Barker of Holton, suggested that McKinney “snapped” while attempting to take care of Romeo but attempted to get help after reportedly dropping him. Jackson County Attorney Shawna Miller countered that one of Romeo’s siblings heard “thumps and slams,” rather than the sound of something dropping, when the incident occurred.