Judge Acquits 3 of Abusing Alzheimer's Patient at Haverford Eldercare Facility
By David Madden
MEDIA, Pa. (CBS) -- A Delaware County judge has cleared three former staffers at an assisted living facility in Haverford of charges that they abused a resident in an incident caught on videotape.
Judge Kevin Kelly viewed the tape purportedly showing the 78-year-old Alzheimer's patient being mocked, taunted, and physically abused -- at least in the eyes of prosecutors. Defense lawyers viewed it differently.
"All I saw was them trying to do was get her ready for bed," says attorney Joseph DelSordo, who represented one of the defendants. "I didn't see anything that would be striking, poking, (or) any intention to inflict any harm on her."
Judge Kelly found the trio not guilty of assault, false imprisonment, harassment, and conspiracy.
The camera that recorded the encounter inside the Quadrangle assisted living facility in Haverford was put there by the elderly patient's family, hidden inside a clock. The tape got a lot of TV play (see previous story).
The Delaware County DA's office believes it presented a case to Kelly sufficient to sustain the charges brought.
