Man Sentenced To 19 Years for Beating Death of Elderly Employer
A Redlands, CA man was sentenced to 19 years in state prison in a plea bargain after pleading guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and elder abuse. Both charges received sentence enhancements. The incident was originally charged as a murder case before the prosecution reached a plea agreement with the defense regarding the sentence. The incident originally occurred in 2007 when the now 37-year-old man severely beat the 71-year-old employer in a bedroom at the elderly man’s home.
The beating resulted in the elderly man slipping into a coma and he died 11 months later. Investigators found DNA evidence that showed the 37-year-old man beat up the elderly man despite claims that 2 unknown assailants barged into the home and escaped through the back door. The man later fled to Missouri but he was extradited back to San Bernardino County when police issued a $500,000 warrant for his arrest. In the court trial the perpetrator alleged he did not remember committing the crime in the first place because he had been on drugs at the time.
This incident demonstrates that elder abuse does not necessarily have to take place in the nursing home or group home. While these locations are the most common for elder abuse or neglect, it can in fact happen anywhere. Despite the elderly man providing the perpetrator with a job, the 37-year-old man still committed a vicious crime against the man that resulted in his death. Although he claimed he was on drugs when the crime occurred and he did not remember the incident happening at all, there is no excuse for severely beating a man until he slips into a coma and eventually loses his life. The factor that made this incident worse is that the perpetrator tried to flee to a different state in order to escape the law. If he had successfully done so, he could have gotten away with killing an innocent elderly man for no reason whatsoever. A family should never have to endure the loss of a loved one, especially in this manner.
