Penngrove Woman Sent for Evaluation in Abuse of 2 Month Old

Lyndsay Patricia Colula, 21, of Penngrove was sent to the California Department of Corrections for a diagnostic evaluation, at the order of Judge Gary Medvigy earlier this week.

The court’s order, issued Thursday, means that Colula will be temporarily placed in the Department of Corrections for diagnosis and recommendations for a period not to exceed 90 days.  

A written report will be forwarded to the court for further determination on sentencing upon the defendant’s return to Sonoma County, at which time a hearing date will be set. 

Colula pled no contest and was found guilty on August 23, 2012, of felony child endangerment.  

Specifically, she was convicted of willfully and unlawfully, under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death, of permitting a child to suffer and to be inflicted with unjustifiable physical pain that endangered the child’s health.  Colula also pled to the special enhancement of personally inflicting great bodily injury on a child under the age of 5.  Colula faces a maximum term of 12 years in state prison.   Deputy District Attorney Rosanne Darling, who is prosecuting the case, argued for the maximum term.

Colula’s 2 month old child was found to have a head injury, seven broken ribs, a broken tibia, and compression injuries to her tiny toes. 

The child was examined by doctors in Santa Rosa, then transported to Oakland’s Children’s Hospital.  Experts at Children’s Hospital resoundingly rejected the notion that these injuries were the result of an accident, and found Colula’s story that the baby fell out of the bed, wholly inconsistent with the physical evidence. 

During the course of the investigation, Colula repeatedly gave implausible and bizarre explanations for the child’s injuries, which would have caused the child to suffer excruciating pain.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Rosanne T. Darling.  Detective Matt North from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office’s, Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Unit led the thorough investigation.