Nolan Clay, Jim Killackey
09/13/2000
A second-degree murder charge was filed Tuesday against a longtime Choctaw Living Center patient, despite his severe mental retardation.
Jerome Vaught, 34, is accused of strangling another patient Aug. 30 at the private home for mentally handicapped adults. Oklahoma County prosecutors acknowledge he is so retarded that a judge may rule he is too mentally incompetent to face trial.
Vaught has been described as having the mental capacity of a 1- or 2-year-old.
Vaught was charged to let the legal system decide his future, prosecutors said. The death at the center led to its closing by the state Health Department.
"There's... legal standards in place equipped to handle situations like this. This is not the first time," said Lou Keel, an assistant district attorney. "I'm doing what the law compels me to do."
Vaught could be sent to Eastern State Hospital in Vinita if found incompetent or not guilty by reason of insanity.
He at least then would not be "around other vulnerable mentally handicapped people," Keel said.
Killed was Joe L. "J.J." McCormick Jr., who lived at the center for about a year. McCormick, 26, was strangled with a belt.
A center employee found Vaught kneeling over McCormick's lifeless body still holding a belt wrapped around the victim's neck, police said.
The employee took Vaught from the room and summoned help for the victim. Choctaw Police Detective Marsha VanHoutte reported that the belt was found in Vaught's room and was "positively matched" by a doctor to the victim's wounds.
Keel said, "All that shows some wheels were turning in this guy's head. Under the law, there's no reason he should not be held accountable - at least to the extent of having a charge filed."
He was not charged with first-degree murder because of his retardation, the prosecutor said
The second-degree murder charge said Vaught acted "in a manner imminently dangerous to another person."
Punishment for a conviction is up to life in prison.
Vaught lived at Choctaw Living Center since 1987, according to reports. He has been in facilities since he was 6. He suffers from Down syndrome. He does not speak.
"How can they do that?" said his sister and guardian, Jada Young, of the charge.
"He has no understanding," Young said, crying in a telephone conversation. "There's... doubt it was even him. He is like a 2-year-old.... He's never had a background of anything like this. Never."
Vaught was not arrested Aug. 30. He was set to be moved to the Oklahoma County jail from a mental retardation center in Enid.
Freda J. Cross, the attorney for McCormick's mother, said of Vaught: "If he's competent, we want him prosecuted.
"If he's not competent, he should be in a facility for the rest of his life where he's supervised and not allowed to hurt anyone else... a facility that is capable of protecting the public from further acts of violence."
The attorney is planning a wrongful-death lawsuit, and she said the ultimate liability is with the Choctaw Living Center and its staff.
"Regardless of the outcome of a competency hearing, the owners and administrators of the center are no less responsible for J.J.'s death. They were aware of a problem concerning this man and J.J. There were numerous reports by staff members who had seen him tormenting J.J.," Cross said.
McCormick's mother, Leeha Tucker, claimed Vaught on Aug. 29 was seen dragging McCormick with a belt around the legs through the center's hallways.
She said a staff member finally took the belt away from Vaught but gave it back the next day, the day of her son's death.
"They should never open that center again. The staff was dealing with people's lives, and they were untrained," Tucker said Tuesday night.
Debbie Jones, Choctaw Living Center administrator, said she was surprised by the charge.
"I don't believe the man's intention was to kill the other resident, but just to make him be quiet. The man is not capable of thinking in a premeditated manner," Jones said. "It was a spur-of-the moment, impulsive act."
McCormick was autistic. He graduated at age 21 from Oklahoma City's Belle Isle center when it was a school for handicapped students. He also attended the Dale Rogers Workshop in Oklahoma City and later lived with his mother for three years before being admitted to the Choctaw facility.
Choctaw Police Chief Billy Carter called the second-degree murder charge against Vaught "the wise thing to do."
"This will give the court system an opportunity to properly review the defendant's mental capacity," Carter said.
Meanwhile, The Oklahoman learned Tuesday that the state Department of Human Services recently investigated and substantiated two separate allegations of sexual abuse and staff neglect at the Choctaw Living Center.
Bill Fogleman, a DHS long-term care investigator, said the negligence allegation involved a male resident who suffered third-degree burns when he was scalded in a bathtub.
By Tuesday, 64 of the center's 74 residents were moved to different public and private facilities for the retarded.
Last Friday, the center was ordered closed and all of its residents relocated. The Health Department's acting director, Jerry Regier, said he feared another death could occur because the center's numerous Medicaid deficiencies "represented a threat to the health and safety of residents."
Earlier this year, the center was fined $10,000 after the body of a woman who suffered a fatal seizure went undiscovered for six days.
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