McCoy Sentenced to 3 Years (USA)

McCoy sentenced to 3 years, Green walks with time served
April 25, 2012
By George Stahl/Special to the Sun

Joseph Daniel McCoy, 30, of Lake Isabella was sentenced to five years in Wasco State Prison in exchange for his no contest plea on the charge of causing harm or death to an elderly person or dependent adult.

As part of his no contest plea, he pled no contest to the charge of inflicting corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant in a separate case which was pending against him when he was arrested on Feb. 17, for the neglect and subsequent death of his grandmother, 90-year-old Margaret Gray of Lake Isabella.
Green, 55. For her part in the neglect and abuse, Green also pled no contest. She was sentenced to one year in County Jail with theee years of probation. Green’s accumulated time served and days accredited for good behavior was over 344 days from the time of her arrest. Green was sentenced and released Friday.

At his last court appearance, McCoy threw somewhat of a monkey wrench into the proceedings by announcing that he wanted to withdraw his no contest pleas previously arranged.

Since his plea was contingent with Green’s plea in the case, both sentences were postponed until April 20. In the meantime, Public Defender, Janice Kim was relieved as McCoy’s attorney, and Bakersfield attorney, Brian McNamara was appointed to represent McCoy for the plea withdrawal request. On April 20, the motion to withdraw was denied and sentencing went on as agreed.

On Feb. 11, 2011 Darlene Green’s mother, Margaret Gray was found to be lying in her own feces, surrounded by flies, and dirty diapers in a dark room at the rear of her mobile home on 2313 Reeder Dr. in Lake Isabella. The CARE Ambulance paramedic who attended Gray said in his testimony at the preliminary hearing on July 20 that he had to bat away the flies as he tried to assist Gray, whose skin was fused with the sheets of her bed in such a way that pieces of skin fell away as he tried to move her. Also to testify at the hearing was Kern Valley Hospital Emergency Room Physcian, Dr. Manuel Sacapano. The former Emergency Room Supervisor said that this was the worst case of elder abuse he had ever seen. When Gray was brought in Sacapano said that he thought he was looking at a corpse. He said that this condition could not have happened over night. It had to take weeks, even months for Gray to deteriorate to this level. She had grade four ulcers on her back and bed soars over her body. “In 11 years, this is the worst case of elder abuse I have ever seen,” Sacapano said. A grade four ulcer not only penetrates the skin, but goes deep enough to expose the bone.

Green, who lived in Weldon at the time, said that she only occasionally saw her mother. McCoy had been her primary caregiver since he was 19 years old. Whenever Green would try to touch her mother, Gray reportedly told her to leave her alone. It was Gray’s other daughter, Barbara Mendez of Baldwin Park who, at the insistence of a house keeper Mendez hired in February, that called 911 after seeing what condition her mother was in. The 90 year old Gray died on April 1, 2011 while at Lifehouse, an elderly care unit with Bakersfield Family Medical Center.

SOURCE:       The KVSUN

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