JURY CONVICTS MITCHELL ON STATE SCHOOL NEGLIGENCE CASE

  

A jury has convicted a former Brenham State Supported Living Center employee, for injury to a disabled individual.

23-year-old La’precious Mitchell was convicted by a jury Thursday, after the trial which began Monday. Mitchell was arrested and indicted for the offense from May 2015, after an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General.

The investigation showed Mitchell was in charge of a Living Center client in a “one-on-one” capacity. While Mitchell was watching the client, she answered the phone and left him alone in his room.

During that lapse, the client injured himself with a toy she knew he had previously used to hurt himself. The client had to be taken to the emergency room to have the wound stapled shut.

No records were available to show that Mitchell had ever told anyone about the injury, but video showed her taking him to the restroom to change his bloody shirt.

Mitchell was charged with negligently causing bodily injury, by failing to properly supervise the client in her care. Injury to a Disabled Individual, as indicted in this case, is a State Jail Felony punishable by 6 months to 2 years in jail.

The punishment hearing is set for January 24, 2019.   Mitchell is eligible to receive probation.

During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Ryon Adams compared the presented facts to leaving a baby alone in a room, with a razor blade. He later commented that Mitchell knew the client had hurt himself with the object before, but still left him alone with it, and as a result the client needed staples in his head.

Following the trial, Assistant District Attorney Lauren Haevischer said these types of case are difficult, as the victims are often non-verbal and unable to say what happened to them. When asked about the jury’s 17-minute deliberation, she responded that video shown was clear, saying the victim was fine until after Mitchell left to take the phone call, and had blood running down the back of his head after she returned.

Haevischer and Adams represented the State at trial.  Booker Hogan of Brenham represented the defendant, and Judge Carson Campbell presided at trial.

This is the second time the District Attorney’s Office has tried a case of abuse or neglect by an employee at the Brenham State Supported Living Center. That case, from 2013, also ended in a conviction, based primarily on video evidence as that victim was also non-verbal.