This week, Montoya was convicted on multiple charges of child abuse resulting in death and racketeering under COCCA (the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act). The first-degree murder charges had been dropped by an Adams County District Court judge in December 2022; Montoya's trial on reduced charges began January 8 and lasted two weeks before the jury came back with a guilty verdict following a two-day deliberation.
"This was a truly outrageous case," 17th Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason tells Westword. "One of the most outrageous cases I've seen."
According to Mason, "The defendant was running a large-scale drug operation while two children were in his house, and one of those children is now dead." Aviyana had been teething, and was caught on home surveillance video placing items in and around her mouth.
Aviyana Montoya was caught on home surveillance video ingesting what is believed to be fentanyl pills while inside her parents' bedroom.
17th Judicial District Attorney's Office
"She ingested fentanyl and was exposed to methamphetamines and other drugs," Mason explains. "It's unfathomable. So we prosecuted this case vigorously, and I'm grateful to my team and to the Brighton Police Department and the North Metro Task Force and, of course, to the jury for delivering a just verdict."
Montoya and Casias, who is slated to go on trial on March 11, placed Aviyana in her crib after she'd been playing in their bedroom, allegedly ignoring her cries and apparent struggle to breathe for nearly fourteen hours.
"Beginning on January 1, 2022, Montoya and Casias obtained a large quantity of illegal controlled substances, including Fentanyl, which they brought to their residence," their indictment said. "During the remainder of the day and throughout the evening of January 1, 2022, and into the early morning hours of January 2, 2022, from their residence and while [Aviyana] was present in the residence, Montoya and Casias distributed these controlled substances to various customers and associates, allowed these customers to use controlled substances within the Montoya-Casias residence and within proximity to Aviyana Montoya, and ingested illegal controlled substances themselves, while they were the sole caregivers for Aviyana Montoya. This drug trafficking activity and their related use of illegal controlled substances placed Aviyana Montoya in an extremely dangerous situation, exposed her to highly toxic and hazardous controlled substances containing Fentanyl, posing a threat to her life and health, and which ultimately resulted in her death."
Aviyana Montoya was playing inside her parents' master bedroom while they were dealing and using drugs with other individuals.
17th Judicial District Attorney's Office
Montoya, 33, is currently scheduled to be sentenced in early April.
Mason says it's critical to educate the Adams County community on the dangers that fentanyl poses not just to drug users, but to young people, too.
"Unfortunately, those who become addicted to fentanyl can build up a tolerance to it," Mason notes. "It remains a fatal drug, and anytime someone ingests fentanyl, they're playing Russian roulette with their life. But for somebody who's never taken it before and has absolutely no tolerance, they are most at risk of instant death. And so we have to keep spreading the word about how dangerous this drug is. It's important for parents to be educated about the dangers of fentanyl, and to talk to their kids about fentanyl. Because kids are dying from fentanyl poisoning, often when they don't realize that they are taking a pill that has fentanyl in it."
Since he took over as DA in 2021, Mason and his team have earned praise for their handling of the fentanyl crisis and drug busts. In Colorado, fentanyl deaths increased by more than 1,000 percent between 2015 and 2021, according to his office.
"Adams County has been hit particularly hard by the fentanyl crisis," Mason says, noting how it was home to the nation's largest-known mass fentanyl poisoning in February 2022, when five people died in a Commerce City apartment.
"We had, at a time, the biggest case in the country," he tells Westword. "So addressing the fentanyl crisis is a top priority for me, for my office and for my colleagues throughout local government and law enforcement. We prioritize this in multiple ways — certainly by educating the community by thoroughly investigating those who are peddling this poison, and by vigorously prosecuting and holding accountable those who are dealing these drugs."
Describing the Montoya case, Mason says: "My heart breaks for this little girl. My heart just breaks for her. She didn't have a chance. She ingested ten times the amount of fentanyl needed to kill an intolerant adult. Ten times the amount, and she was a 22-month-old child. If that doesn't shock the conscience, I don't know what will. But overall, I'm truly grateful to the jury for returning a just verdict, and I hope somewhere Aviyana knows that we were fighting for her and that we cared about her life."
