SCOTTSDALE, AZ — A new lawsuit alleges the Arizona Department of Child Safety failed to intervene despite repeated warnings that two young brothers were suffering from abuse.
The case centers on what the lawsuit claims was the “prolonged torture” of 11-year-old Chaska Davis Smith and his 9-year-old brother. Police were called to a Scottsdale extended-stay hotel in January 2022, where they found Chaska unresponsive and bleeding from the head. He later died from his injuries.
The lawsuit alleges the boys were abused and neglected while in the care of their grandmother.
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“It was horrifying,” Phoenix attorney Matthew Boatman, told ABC15 in an interview. He represents the surviving brother, who is now 13 years old and is in a court-appointed conservatorship.
The lawsuit alleges that over four years, between 2017 and 2021, seven separate reports were made to DCS. But the agency never removed the boys from the care of their grandmother, Stephanie Marie Davis, and her partner, Thomas Desharnais.
Many of the allegations described in the lawsuit are too graphic to publish. The lawsuit alleges the surviving brother has “permanent physical injuries and profound psychological trauma.”
“There were so many signs that were there, if they had just taken a harder look,” Boatman said of DCS.
In response, DCS said in a statement it cannot comment on pending litigation. The state agency has not yet filed a formal court response.
Separately, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Davis and Desharnais. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Their criminal trial is scheduled for later this year, but will likely be delayed because of the complexity of the case.
