20 years to life: David Almond's father pleads guilty, sentenced for autistic teen's death

FALL RIVER — The father accused of abusing and starving his autistic teenage son to death pleaded guilty on Friday to charges including second degree murder and received a sentence of life in prison, with a chance at parole in 20 years.

John Almond was charged with murder after his 14-year-old son David Almond died in 2020 from severe neglect. On Friday Almond, 36, changed his plea on five charges related to David’s death and his brothers’ mistreatment from not guilty to guilty.

On Oct. 21 of 2020, first responders arrived at a one-bedroom apartment on Fall River’s Green Street to find David emaciated and unresponsive. He was declared dead at Charlton Memorial Hospital.

A medical examiner’s report listed his official cause of death as “failure to thrive due to starvation and neglect in an adolescent with autism.”

How Massachusetts DCF agency was involved with the Almond family

At the time of his death, David was living with his father, John Almond, Almond’s girlfriend Jaclyn Marie Coleman, his paternal grandmother, Ann Shadburn, Michael, one of his triplet brothers, and a younger half brother. Both David and the other two triplets had severe autism.

The triplets and their younger half brother were removed from Almond and Coleman’s custody by DCF four separate times during 2016 and 2017 due to concerns about abuse and neglect.

David and one other triplet were returned to Almond and Coleman’s custody from DCF one last time in March of 2020, seven months before David’s death. The third triplet remained in DFC custody.

When David died, both surviving boys were taken from the Green Street home back into DCF custody.

John Almond and Jacyln Marie Coleman faced many charges after David's death

John Almond and Jacyln Marie Coleman were arrested after David's death and charged for crimes related to that and the mistreatment of him and his brothers.

In March of 2021, the pair were charged with one count each of second-degree murder and assault and battery on a disabled person. They pleaded not guilty.

In November of that year, they were again indicted, this time on two charges each for reckless endangerment of a child and possessing a Class A substance.

At the time, they both pleaded not guilty to those additional charges. Both Michael and David’s toddler half-brother had fentanyl in their systems when they were removed from the home, authorities said.

Investigations of DCF, Fall River Public Schools, DESE conducted

An investigation launched after David’s death identified failures and blind spots within multiple local and state organizations including DCF, Fall River Public Schools and the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, along with the child welfare agency in New York, where the boys previously lived. David and Michael were returned to their father’s custody in March of 2020, just as the pandemic was poised to seriously disrupt in-person schooling and the work of child protection agencies.

A March 2021 report from the state’s Office of the Child Advocate found that Fall River Public Schools allowed David to move from 8th grade at Henry Lord Middle School to his freshman year at B.M.C. Durfee High School despite not participating in classes while schools were operating remotely, for example, while the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families failed to complete in-person home visits that may have intercepted the abuse David was suffering.

Shocking details from the Almond reportVisible injuries, scrubbing floors with a toothbrush among findings of OCA report

Two supervisors from the Fall River DCF office were fired as a result of the OCA’s investigation, and DESE revamped its expectations for how school districts conducted remote learning to better assure they were keeping tabs on vulnerable students.

Fall River Public Schools changed rules to help protect students

In light of David’s death, Fall River Public Schools made adjustments to remote learning in an attempt to avoid similar situations. These included requiring remote students to have their cameras on during class so teachers can see them, which previously was not a requirement.

School employees who make house visits were instructed to be far stricter about staying at a home until they see a student themselves, and to consider enlisting the help of a School Resource Officer if this proves difficult. District employees visited the Almond home while David lived there to drop off tablet devices for the students but left without seeing David.

David Almond memorial groveCommunity members remember David Almond two years after his death

Prosecutors: David was happy and healthy before returning to father's custody

Second Assistant District Attorney Silvia Rudman said during Friday's hearing that David and Michael were both in perfect health before they returned to their father’s custody in early 2020. Before David and Michael arrived in Fall River, all three triplets were enrolled at a school for children with disabilities, the Devereux School in Rutland, Mass., and were happy and thriving. David could bathe and dress himself, and could read and write. He was known to love hugging people and participated in his school's plays, Rudman said.

Just over six months later, when first responders arrived at the Almond’s apartment, David and Michael’s condition had changed drastically. They were both covered in filth, wearing diapers and had sustained cuts and bruises all over their bodies, Rudman said. David was unresponsive, and Michael was unable to move and could barely talk, with sores indicating that he had been in the same fetal position for a long time.

The first responders described David as looking as if he had “just left a concentration camp,” Rudman said, adding that multiple emergency workers involved in the incident had to seek therapy following the experience. The teen had weighed 143 pounds before being returned to Almond’s custody but weighed 86 pounds when he died.

Along with allowing the boys’ health to deteriorate catastrophically, Almond, Coleman and Shadburn used drugs regularly and left drugs and needles within reach of the boys, Rudman said. A search of the house turned up 70 hypodermic needles and hundreds of bags of that contained traces of heroin and fentanyl.

Deputy District Attorney William McCauley said Almond could not have possibly failed his sons any more than he did.

“Most people see the birth of a child as a blessing. It appears that it was just a burden to him,” he said.

Almond sentenced to life in prison

Almond said little during the hour-long hearing, except to answer when Justice of the Superior Court Judge Raffi Yessayan asked him to explain in his own words why he was there.

“Because I committed a crime and I’m accepting responsibility for what I committed,” he said.

Prosecutors recommended a life sentence with the possibility of parole at 25 years for the murder charge and up to 10 years for the charge of assault and battery on a disabled person. Almond’s attorney James Hanley requested a sentence for the murder charge of life in prison with a change for parole after 15 years.

Yessayan said he was taking the fact that Almond took responsibility for his crimes into account.

He sentenced Almond to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years for the murder charge and eight to 10 years for the charge of assault and battery on a disabled person. He did not sentence Almond for the two charges of reckless endangerment of a child and one charge of possessing a Class A substance but left the possibility open to sentence him for those charges if the more serious charges are vacated or reversed, or if Almond commits another crime.

Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III, who watched the hearing from the courtroom’s empty jury box, said after the sentencing that the life sentence was “appropriate based on the extreme neglect (Almond) was a party to” and that he was pleased with Friday’s outcome.

“From my perspective, he accepted responsibility to murder and has been sentenced to life in prison, so I’m satisfied with that," he said.

He declined to speculate about whether Coleman may change her plea to guilty. Currently, her jury trial is set to begin on June 12.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: David Almond's father guilty to son's murder: What happened in court