A magisterial district judge dismissed more than half of the charges lodged against a 61-year-old West Chester man in connection with his father’s death.
On Monday, May 11, following a four-hour preliminary hearing, Magisterial District Judge John R. Bailey ruled that sufficient evidence existed to hold Edward J. O’Brien III for trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment. He dismissed charges of third-degree murder, theft, and receiving stolen property.
O’Brien was arrested last month after a lengthy investigation by West Whiteland Police and Chester County Detectives into the death of Edward O’Brien Jr., 92, on Sept. 8, 2013. At the time, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan decried the way in which the elder O’Brien died in allegedly filthy conditions with no medical supervision. O'Brien's attorney, Joseph P. Green Jr., called the charges outrageous and accused Hogan of resorting to "trial by press release."
Hogan declined to comment on the dismissal of the charges. Green said he was not "allowed to comment.” According to court records, Chester County Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft issued a gag order in the case after Green filed a motion in which he argued that Hogan’s remarks to the press following the arrest were improper.
According to the criminal complaint, when police responded to the O’Briens’ residence, they found the victim dead, covered with bedsores and feces, and they learned that the son had removed his father from a rehabilitation facility two years earlier. After investigating, detectives believed that the son had deprived his father of proper medical care and stolen $30,000 from him, the complaint said.
Green said his client, who had power of attorney for his father, removed him from the facility in accordance with his wish to be spared "death by nursing home" and that he moved money from one joint account to another, using it for his father’s care for 2 ½ years.
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