After the death of 72-year-old Mary Ruth Green from severe neglect, Troy Wood, along with his girlfriend Rita Rene Dorlon, was indicted for malice murder, felony murder while committing cruelty to a person 65 years of age or older, and one count of cruelty to an elderly person. A jury found Wood guilty on the felony murder and cruelty counts. He appeals from the denial of his amended motion for new trial.1 Finding no error, we affirm. Viewed to support the jury verdict, the evidence shows that Wood lived with the victim’s daughter Rita Rene Dorlon and their two children. Wood considered Dorlon his wife and referred to the victim as his “mother-in-law.” Wood and Dorlon were unemployed, and the victim’s social security check constituted their primary source of household income. This income became unavailable to Wood and Dorlon, however, when the nursing home in which the victim was residing began receiving the checks directly. Wood and Dorlon subsequently learned that, in order for them to have control over the checks, they would have to take the victim into their home. Wood and Dorlon discussed the situation, and after Wood agreed to assist in caring for the victim, Wood and Dorlon, in concert, immediately removed the victim from the nursing home despite the fact that she was confined to a bed or a wheelchair, was incontinent, and required insulin injections. Prior to the victim’s move, the nursing home staff instructed Wood and Dorlon regarding the victim’s complicated care requirements, and Wood took instructions on how to move the victim, as Dorlon would not be strong enough to do so. Because Wood and Dorlon moved the victim into their home, the victim, who did not want to leave the nursing home, was forced to rely upon Dorlon and Wood for her care; however, Wood and Dorlon failed to care for her, allowing her to lay in her bed without moving her until the victim developed serious bed-sores and infections, including gangrenous ulcers. Wood, in fact, admitted that, even though he could hear the victim call out in pain or request water, he would ignore her entreaties for assistance. On August 30, 2003, a paramedic found the victim dead in the home. A stench permeated the house, the mattress was badly stained with old feces and urine and soiled bed linens were piled outside the victim’s bedroom window. Eyewitnesses testified that they had observed maggots on the bed, and the medical examiner testified that the victim was subjected to numerous cockroach bites. An autopsy report revealed that the victim had died as the result of “severe chronic neglect.” The cause of death had many contributing factors, but the medical examiner opined that the precipitating factor was the “great degree of dead and dying tissue and abscesses on the inside of the thighs,” due to prolonged contact with urine and feces. Dorlon testified that Wood agreed to assist with the victim’s care at the time the couple removed the victim from the nursing home. Wood acknowledged that for the first two months after the victim arrived from the nursing home he would help with her care and performed duties such as taking the victim to the doctor, moving her in and out of the wheelchair, and contacting 911 on her behalf, but he denied having any responsibility for her immediate health care and sustenance. Wood testified that he was aware that Dorlon substituted illegal pain pills for the victim’s prescription medication and insulin and acknowledged that he would burn the bed sheets used instead of diapers to control the victim’s bladder and bowel functions when they became too fetid.
1. Wood contends that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of felony murder and cruelty to a person 65 years of age or older because he had no duty to care for the victim and the evidence does not support the conclusion that he ever assumed responsibility to provide health care or other necessary services to the victim. Because the evidence would support the jury’s conclusion that Wood voluntarily agreed to supervise, have immediate charge of, and have custody of the victim in his home, the statute requires him to care for the victim. Cruelty to a person 65 years of age or older is committed when a guardian or other person supervising the welfare of or having immediate charge or custody of a person who is 65 years of age or older . . . willfully deprives a person who is 65 years of age or older of health care, shelter, or necessary sustenance to the extent that the health or well-being of a person who is 65 years of age or older is jeopardized. OCGA § 16-5-100 a. The statute under which Wood was charged was enacted to protect susceptible elderly persons from abusive physical and financial exploitation. See generally 17 Ga. State U.L. Rev. 93 2000. In furthering this goal, the statute imposes criminal liability upon a person having supervision or “immediate charge or custody” of an elderly person who willfully fails to provide health care and sustenance to the elderly person. In doing so, the statute does not simply encourage care of a dependent elderly person, it mandates adequate care for the dependent elderly.
