National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Police: Disabled  man who died suffered neglect
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A 32-year-old Pennsylvania man with Down syndrome was so severely neglected by his family that his body was covered in scabies and he weighed just 69 pounds when he died, police said in charging his mother and two sisters with murder.
Robert Gensiak had open sores down to the bone at the time of his death March 20. He was taken to the hospital a day earlier because he was only semi-responsive and couldn’t stand up.
Susan Gensiak, 59, of Taylor in northeastern Pennsylvania, and her daughters, Joan, 35, and Rebekah, 24, were charged Wednesday with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and neglect of care for a dependent person.
All three were sent to Lackawanna Prison, with bail set at $350,000 for Susan Gensiak and $250,000 for her daughters.
Investigators said the suspects told police they were concerned about losing Gensiak’s government assistance if they had placed him in a personal care facility, and his mother asked them if she would still receive her son’s Social Security check even after his death.
His mother and sisters had little to say at their arraignments or outside court. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they had attorneys, and a phone listing was unavailable.
Autopsy photos showed Robert Gensiak’s skin was yellow and laced with scabies — a contagious skin infection caused by mites — with open sores all over his body that were so extreme in spots that bone was visible. His few remaining teeth were about to fall out, his head was covered in lice, and there was no food or significant fluid in his stomach, according to an autopsy.
“Robert’s entire body was covered in a thick yellow scab-like rash” that “appeared to have cracked in various places, leaving open sores, which had been bleeding and oozing fluid,” said an affidavit of probable cause.
The cause of death was sepsis due to the breakdown of his skin, with malnutrition contributing, according to Dr. Gary Ross, who performed the autopsy. Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland ruled the manner of death as homicide due to neglect.
According to court documents, the suspects told authorities that Gensiak had psoriasis, but denied he had any other medical problems and said they were treating his skin condition with over-the-counter creams. They said they could not get him to a doctor because they had no means of transportation.
They eventually called a doctor, who urged them to call an ambulance, according to court documents.

Ohio
Man is set for sentencing in dying blink case
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio man found guilty in a murder trial that hinged on a paralyzed victim blinking his eyes to identify his shooter is scheduled to be sentenced.
A jury last month convicted Ricardo Woods, 35, of murder and felonious assault in the death of David Chandler who was shot Oct. 28, 2010, as he sat in a car in Cincinnati. Woods, who has continued to maintain he is innocent, faces up to life in prison on Thursday.
Police interviewed Chandler after he was shot in the head and neck and only able to communicate with his eyes. Chandler died about two weeks later.
During the trial, jurors viewed the videotaped police interview that prosecutors say showed Chandler blinked three times for “yes” to identify a photo of Woods as his shooter. The defense had tried to block the video, saying Chandler’s blinks were inconsistent and unreliable.
A doctor who treated Chandler testified that Chandler was able to communicate clearly about his condition. But the defense argued that Chandler’s condition and drugs used to treat him could have affected his ability to understand and respond during the police interview.
A jailhouse informant testified that Woods told him he shot at Chandler because he caught him buying drugs from someone else while still owing Woods money for drugs. But the defense argued that the informant, who faced armed robbery charges, was trying to use testimony against Woods to get a lighter sentence for himself. Defense attorneys also said Chandler stole drugs from other dealers and had many enemies.
Woods attorney, Kory Jackson, has said there will be an appeal.

California
SF ‘landlords from hell’ plead guilty to felonies
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A couple that prosecutors dubbed the “landlords from hell” for going to scary lengths to drive tenants from a San Francisco apartment building — including cutting holes in one tenant’s floor with a power saw while he was still inside — have pleaded guilty to several felonies.
Nicole Macy, 37, and Kip Macy, 38, threatened to shoot tenants, changed locks, cleared apartments of belongings, and reported tenants as trespassers in their own apartments, prosecutors said Wednesday. They said it was all to drive renters out of their building in the increasingly pricey South of Market neighborhood, where rents have soared in recent years but city restrictions keep them in check for existing tenants.
District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement that the couple’s tactics were “so outlandish and brazen that it sounds like the plot line of a horror movie.”
The Macys each pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony counts of residential burglary, one felony count of stalking and one felony count of attempted grand theft.
The crimes occurred between 2005 and 2007 but the Macys fled to Italy after their 2009 grand jury indictment. They reached a plea deal after they were extradited and will each be sentenced to four years and four months in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for August.
The couple twice used a power saw to cut holes in the floor of one victim’s living room while he was in the apartment and cut sections out of the joists below the floor, the district attorney’s office said.
They also threatened to have tenants deported, cut off utility lines, changed locks, took and destroyed tenants’ belongings and reported legal tenants as trespassers, bringing police to the apartment with guns drawn, the DA’s office said.
The Macys attorney, Lisa Dewberry, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.