June 16, 2017 - A Shelby County couple accused of abusing their 4-year-old child each received bond reduction Thursday, June 15, 2017 as ordered by 123rd Judicial District Judge LeAnn K. Rafferty.
The pair each are facing a charge of injury to a child, first degree felony, and each had bonds of $200,000 set by Margie Anderson, Justice of the Peace Precinct 3, on June 8. Clay Thomas, the attorney of record for Randa Askew McMahon, 36, of Shelbyville and Reynaldo P. Morin, the attorney of record for Matthew McMahon, 29, each filed writs of habeas corpus seeking bond reduction for each of their clients.
According to court records, a conditional bond order reducing the bond to $20,000 for each of the McMahon’s was ordered by Judge Rafferty.
The case was investigated by Shelby County Sheriff’s Investigator Chad Brown and according to the affidavit, on May 30, 2017 Investigator Brown was informed by Lt. Kevin Windham of the alleged abuse of a 4-year-old child via discipline being administered in an inappropriate manner.
According to the affidavit, a 14-year-old child of Randa McMahon was interviewed at the Shelby County Children’s Advocacy Center where the child indicated several instances of alleged abuse to the 4-year-old. Sometime between November 2016 and March 2017 Matthew McMahon traveled for work and his family accompanied him through Arkansas, Georgia and Florida.
During that time the 14-year-old alleged the 4-year-old was occasionally forced to sleep in a large dog crate at times when the child had either urinated or defecated on himself. As a result of being left in the crate for long periods of time additional urination and defecation incidents would occur.
The 14-year-old also allegedly revealed the 4-year-old was forced to be locked in an enclosed cargo trailer on several occasions and some of those times would be without food or water for up to 24 hours. One allegation is that the 4-year-old was once forced to drink his own urine as punishment.
As a result of the bond reduction the McMahon’s both bonded out on Thursday, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Department, and are set to return to court July 27. An emergency order for protection of the child has been filed by Child Protective Services with County Attorney Gary Rholes. Attorney Lynda K. Russell appointed as representation for the child.
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