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Two convicted in Washington County
CHIPLEY - Jurors deliberated for 35 minutes before finding Roger Beard, who is in his mid-60s, guilty of neglecting his 97-year-old mother, Naomi Beard, after a trial Tuesday.
Assistant State Attorney Greg Wilson said Roger Beard called paramedics on Feb. 18, 2009, to ask them to come to his mother's house in Chipley and examine her legs. When paramedics arrived, they found Naomi Beard sitting in a chair covered in feces, with newspaper on the floor under the chair to collect her waste.
Wilson said she had bedsores so severe "you could see her backbone" and some of her wounds were infested with maggots. She'd been sitting in that chair for two weeks to two months, Wilson said, and hadn't had a bath in a year.
Naomi Beard was taken to the hospital, but died of pneumonia four days later. Wilson said her death could not be linked to her living conditions and Roger Beard was charged with neglect of an elderly person.
Wilson said the issue at trial was whether Roger Beard was simply following his mother's instructions to not seek medical treatment for her. Family and neighbors said Naomi Beard avoided doctors and had sought medical treatment three times in her life.
Wilson said that Roger Beard had an obligation to provide care to her.
"He ultimately had the responsibility to go against her wishes in providing medical care," he said.
Beard, who does not have a criminal history, faces a penalty of probation to up to five years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 17.
•CHIPLEY - David Lee Hall, 62, of Bay County, was convicted as charged of armed burglary with a firearm, aggravated assault with a firearm and violation of a domestic violence injunction on Monday. He faces 10 years to life in prison when he's sentenced Dec. 21.
Assistant State Attorney Greg Wilson played for jurors a 12-minute recording of a 911 call in which Hall is heard struggling with his wife and her niece on Aug. 30, 2008. According to trial testimony, Hall was being held in jail for allegedly choking Barbara Hall on July 9, 2008. He posted bond on Aug. 30, 2008, and went to his wife's house that night. He kicked in the backdoor, breaking through two deadbolt locks, before arming himself with a shotgun and awaiting Barbara Hall's return from bingo.
Barbara Hall, who was terrified of her husband, returned home with her niece, Crystal Vandershaaf, 23, and asked that Vandershaaf wait outside while Barbara Hall went inside. If everything was clear, Barbara Hall was going to flick the porch light on and off. Vandershaaf waited several minutes and when the light didn't flicker, she looked inside and saw David Hall confronting Barbara Hall.
Vandershaaf took a cordless phone and called 911 from a bathroom, but heard Barbara Hall screaming and left the line connected as she went to her aid. Wilson said David Hall was brandishing the shotgun. Vandershaaf snatched the gun away and ordered him to sit on the couch. But David Hall got the gun away from her and a fight over the weapon ensued with the gun discharging once into the ceiling.
"They stood there in shock for 30 seconds," Wilson said of Vandershaaf and Hall's reaction to the shotgun blast. They resumed fighting over the shotgun, which lasted until deputies arrived.
"Crystal is trying to hold him down and he's trying to get to Barbara," Wilson said. "Crystal is punching him with one hand and holding the gun down with the other."
Even after deputies arrived with weapons drawn, Wilson said, Hall continued to try to get to the shotgun until Barbara Hall took it out of the room.
Jurors deliberated for nine minutes Monday afternoon before convicting Hall of the charges.
