歪歪漫画

BRAINERD 鈥� Both the prosecution and defense attorneys rested as the state gave its closing statements Wednesday, May 28, in the criminal trial against 34-year-old Crosslake woman, Jorden Nicole Borders, accused of torturing her three children.

On Friday, Borders' defense attorney Mark after the state rested its case against Borders.

When the trial reconvened Wednesday, Crow Wing County District Court Judge Patricia Aanes asked if either party had further arguments to make on the submitted acquittal motion. Hansen told the court he would defer to the submitted motion.

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Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Dominika Kins argued the weight of the evidence presented shows there is sufficient evidence for Aanes to rule against the motion.

Kins said the state had, through testimony and evidence, shown Borders had fabricated the osteogenesis imperfecta diagnosis in two of the children. She said Borders never completed any of the testing she told the medical professionals or community organizations. The 10-year-old boy was put in casts over and over and over again, and was in a cast up until the last day he was under Borders' care in July 2022.

To her financial benefit, she used the children to garner gifts from charities and foundations, and refused to let the children have or use the gifts.

Kins said Borders employed extreme psychological abuse on the children for years, with medical issues she created before their eventual removal from her care.

Records and photos showed abuse of the then 7-year-old girl through forcing her to wear hearing amplifiers and medical devices, despite no medical necessity, she told the court.

There also are accusations of physical abuse. All three children testified they would be strangled against a wall while their feet dangled off the ground, before being let go to fall to the floor. The children also said Borders threatened to kill them and they all believed she would, Kins said.

Kins said Borders practiced intense psychological abuse of the three children by forcing them to dump the blood taken from the then 9-year-old boy. Though they were removed from her care, they are being forced to deal with the trauma she created for the rest of their lives, Kins said.

After arguing against each point in the motion for acquittal, Kins asked the court to deny the judgment and all motions for the acquittal and allow the court, as the fact finder, to make a ruling on guilt.

After a brief recess, Aanes ruled the motion would be denied in its entirety.

Hansen informed the court Borders would exercise her right to not testify in her own defense and they would be waiving their right to give an opening statement. He then told the court the defense would not be calling any witnesses and was resting its case.

Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Mary Russell said Borders wanted 鈥�... attention, control and power.鈥� Borders aimed to obtain those things through her children until her plans started falling apart in May 2022.

She said the three children were subjected to medical, physical and psychological abuse.

Believing he had osteogenesis imperfecta for years, Russell said the then 10-year-old boy was in a cast for all but three days of his kindergarten year. The boy was in a cast so much of his life that he learned to write with both hands. She told the court how the boy had become discouraged and acted out at school because he couldn't be a simple kindergartener and grew frustrated with the restrictions set upon him for his osteogenesis imperfecta.

Russell said he never had osteogenesis imperfecta. He had a normal, healthy body being used as a prison. She said doctors often rely on what is told to them by a parent when looking for a medical history. And with doctors being told by Borders the boy had osteogenesis imperfecta, they would immediately cast the boy as a precaution.

As she was speaking, the state had a picture of the boy sitting on a bean bag with a cast on one of his legs and arms and a neck brace on. When the picture was shown, Borders was looking down at the table in the courtroom and appeared to be writing in a notebook.

Borders would steal casting materials from doctors' offices and apply them herself without training on how to do so, Russell said. Russell also said the 10-year-old boy had demineralization of his bones from malnutrition and immobilization, noting at one point he was so weak from being cast that he could not hold a ball.

The 10-year-old boy estimated that he had around 60 casts in his life under Borders' care. Borders told doctors that she too had been diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta and told her husband, Christopher Badowicz, that the 10-year-old boy had osteogenesis imperfecta.

鈥淭he way he lived his life was affected by everything that had been done to him,鈥� Russell said.

Talking about the then 7-year-old girl, Russell said she could hear the relief in her voice during the second forensic examination when the girl learned she did not have osteogenesis imperfecta.

Russell told the court the girl was made to wear a neck brace multiple times and would send photos of her to , a mother of a child with osteogenesis imperfecta who had become familiar with Borders in a Facebook group for the disease.

The girl was told she had hearing problems, though during her first hearing test, the 7-year-old girl said she was told to fake not being able to hear things. At one point, Borders sent a photo of a boil on the back of the girl's ear from the hearing amplifiers.

The 9-year-old boy is left with permanent scars from his central lines, G-tube and thigh biopsy from his forced medical problems. The boy spoke on how the medical devices designed for nourishment and health care were used as weapons in the hands of his mother. In March 2022, a peripherally inserted central catheter line gave Borders access to remove blood from the boy.

鈥淭he hospital unknowingly handed her a weapon,鈥� Russell said.

Abrupt dips in his hemoglobin led to the 9-year-old boy receiving weekly blood checks. At times his blood dropped so low, medical professionals said the boy could have died.

All three children were forced to contribute to pouring the 9-year-old boy鈥檚 blood into the toilet. Russell said the 9-year-old boy said he felt sleepy and tired when Borders would remove his blood prior to going to his appointments.

She then spoke of how, when learning the boys' appointments were not when he thought they were, Badowicz told the court, 鈥淚t is what it is.鈥�

From March 2021 to May 2022, the boy estimated Borders removed blood from him around 30 times.

Following May 2022, Russell spoke of how, during the first forensic interview, the children did not have one negative complaint or issue with their parents.

鈥淲hat child does not disagree with something their parent does,鈥� Russell rhetorically asked.

The 10-year-old boy told interviewers he did not want to get his mom in trouble.

Russell then told the court the 10-year-old boy and the 7-year-old girl started disclosing what happened to them after leaving Borders鈥� care. Eventually, all three children testified to years of abuse at the hands of Borders.

The 10-year-old boy was forced to sleep on the floor after Borders burned his mattress. The 7-year-old girl said she would often sleep in front of her door and the 9-year-old boy didn't even recognize a photo of his room in the courtroom as he was forced to sleep on a puppy pad on the floor like a dog.

The 10-year-old boy said he would pick the lock on his door to sneak food for his brother, as he was concerned he would die.

鈥淭his was not one moment; this was their lives,鈥� Russell said.

When looking at the stalking charge, Russell told the court that stalking includes the intent of causing fear. All three children talked of their fear of Borders and how they were threatened with knives and a gun. They believed she would kill them, Russell said.

Borders got away with it for years, Russell said. Anytime someone would ask for a test or recommend something Borders did not want, she would switch doctors, providers and schools.

To be able to work as the 9-year-old boy鈥檚 personal care assistant, she created his medical issues and collected around $20,000.

Nursing notes indicated Borders was not practicing sanitary measures when working with the 9-year-old boy. He said she would yank and pull on his IV lines.

Another photo shown Wednesday on a screen in the courtroom showed all three children on the ground with a date of April 17, 2022, or Easter Sunday 2022. The quote under the photo read, 鈥淔inding eggs with three gimp kids.鈥�

Russell spoke of how, still today, the 9-year-old boy has nightmares and the 7-year-old girl still hides in her room.

Russell talked about how Borders plans to get rid of the 9-year-old boy, included him dying in the hospital after she made him weak and more susceptible to surgery. Russell noted how Borders was messaging and talking about how she was preparing for the boy鈥檚 death, at one point saying the doctors could not save him and she would be putting him in hospice.

When doctors removed him from Borders' care in May 2022, the 9-year-old boy started to improve. The boy was eventually diagnosed as a victim of medical child abuse by the hospital.

The state asked the court to find Borders guilty on all counts.

Hansen will be submitting a written closing statement to the court by Friday. The trial will reconvene for a verdict on Wednesday, June 4, in Crow Wing County District Court.

Borders was , with three felony counts of child torture and three felony counts of stalking following a child maltreatment investigation by the Crow Wing County Sheriff鈥檚 Office.

On Dec. 1, 2023, she was also charged with . That was the second time the . In March of 2023, Borders was also charged with four counts of felony theft related to fraudulently obtaining money for medical costs.

The Borders allegedly tortured her three young children through actions like withdrawing blood, forcing them to wear casts and neck braces despite not having injuries, and inflicting frequent physical abuse as punishment.

Doctors from multiple health care systems 鈥� puzzled by one of Borders鈥� children鈥檚 unexplained health problems over the course of three years 鈥� began to share similar and troubling suspicions of abuse.

A filed by the sheriff鈥檚 office detailed extensive efforts by professionals to settle on cohesive diagnoses for the child before Borders鈥� arrest. While a litany of surgeries, procedures and unusual test results failed to clarify the then-9-year-old boy鈥檚 conditions, it led to speculation about Borders鈥� role in causing or fabricating his illnesses.

The then-9-year-old wasn鈥檛 the only child affected by Borders鈥� alleged abuse.

The criminal complaint outlining the charges filed against Borders revealed she self-diagnosed two of her other children 鈥� an 11-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl 鈥� with osteogenesis imperfecta, known as brittle bones disease. At the time, Borders鈥� Facebook profile showed references to the disease in relation to her children dating back to at least 2016.

The children鈥檚 interviews with authorities included descriptions of other kinds of physical and emotional abuse.

Crow Wing County placed the 9-year-old in protective custody in May of 2022. Community Services monitored the care of the other two children before they were removed from the home in July. Borders was not allowed unsupervised contact with the children after their removal. With the criminal charges filed against Borders, one of her conditions of release barred her from contact with anyone under 18.

Borders and her husband later agreed to terminate their parental rights in a December 2022 court hearing.