2 convicted in neglect of elderly woman
Oct. 6, 2011
SALISBURY
Two family members of a Fruitland bedridden woman were convicted of vulnerable adult neglect during a Wicomico County Circuit Court bench trial this week.
The victim's husband, 85-year-old George Wilbur Baker, and her granddaughter, 27-year-old Michelle Lynn Hundley, are facing the state's maximum penalty of 10 years on the charges.
They are expected to be sentenced Dec. 2.
"I was grateful to Judge (David) Mitchell that he took the time to listen to all of the evidence, go through the medical records of the victim and to come up with what I believe is the appropriate verdict in this case," said Joel Todd, the prosecutor and a Wicomico County senior assistant state's attorney assigned to elder abuse cases.
Baker and Hundley were charged after the victim, 83-year-old Mary Jane Baker, was admitted to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in January 2010. Medical staff at the hospital reported she was malnourished, neglected and suffered from multiple sores from her shoulders down to her feet, according to court documents. She weighed about 60 pounds at the time, according to prosecutors.
After reports of neglect by medical personnel, Baker stayed in the hospital for a week before she was moved to a nursing home, according to court records.
The victim returned to the hospital March 3, 2010, for unknown reasons, where she died six days later.
The autopsy report showed Baker died of natural causes, according to prosecutors.
Baker and Hundley are two of four family members charged with neglecting the victim. Her daughters, Amy Jane Davis, 56, and Sherry Lynn Mundy, 63, were charged with similar violations.
The family members who were charged were living with the victim in the 400 block of West Main Street and assumed responsibility for her care, according to charging documents.
All four family members were indicted on similar charges in March 2010; however, the state decided not to pursue the charges in May after the Mary Jane Baker died.
More recently, Davis pleaded guilty to abuse of a vulnerable adult in September during a Circuit Court hearing. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for mid-November.
Mundy is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 24
Despite the charges and allegations of neglect, the public defense attorney for Baker and Mundy said the victim's family kept her alive.
"Her husband slept on the floor near her bed for years," said Arch McFadden, the deputy public defender for the 2nd District. "He wanted to be near her in case she needed something in the middle of the night.
"I would be concerned about a chilling effect on people accepting the elderly in their home during the final stages of their life. Ms. Hundley and every member of the family used the best info they had to take care of Mary Baker."
George Baker and Hundley were released on $1,000 bond each, that was previously posted, while waiting for a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 2.
Evidence against them included photographs of the victim when she arrived at the hospital in January 2010, according to the prosecutor. The photos showed the elderly woman in frail condition and permanently bent in the fetal position, Todd said.
"In the 26 years I've been prosecuting, at the time I saw these pictures, these are the worst photographs I have ever seen," Todd said.
SOURCE: DelmarvaNow
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