What happened To Victim’s Rights?

Yesterday my wife, her sister and I sat in a courtroom in Oregon City and watched a woman convicted of Criminal Mistreatment of my brother-in-law, walk away with a clean slate.
I’m all about forgiveness but have little tolerance for the rights of criminals when they seem to trump the rights of the victim. When Chip lived in a group home in Oregon City this woman left George (Chip) Diehm in a bathtub for 10.5 hours because she couldn’t get the machine to work that gets him out of the tub. A year after that is when we brought Chip to Eugene to live in the greatest place ever, Oregon Supported Living Program.
The rest of the story is below for those interested enough to read on.

We have a problem in our culture when those who are the criminals have more rights than those we call the victims.
My wife did all the homework on the case but asked me to speak to the court while she and her sister sat with the perpetrator just a few feet away. I have a better understanding of family after yesterday. We are not finished. We hold no grudge but plan to take our fight to the legislature and change the laws around expunging the files of criminals. The following is our testimony. The judge was very sorry he had to wipe her record clean but said “his hands are tied by the law.”
If you have the time to read on, please do. It matters.

My name is Rick Dancer. I’m here speaking on behalf of the family, Kathy Dancer and Susan Racket. They are the victim George Diehms sisters and are in the courtroom today. I’m also speaking on behalf of my brother-in-law George Diehm who has no voice but has rights and needs someone to speak up for him.
Imagine our shock, surprise and frustration to learn that defendant in this case, Marsha Yarborough will possibly get her record expunged by this court after what she did to George Diehm three years ago.
Marsha Yarborough left George Diehm in a bathtub for 10.5 hours while she did her online banking. She failed to follow protocol set up by her employers or to use common sense and call 911 to protect my brother-in-law. In other words, Marsha Yarborough failed to do her job and in her failure put George Diehm at risk. It is criminal mistreatment and while this court may be comfortable erasing it from Yarboroughs record what happened isn’t as easily erased from the mind of George Diehm or his family. Mistreatment is mistreatment no matter what the law says.
Oregon is one of only two states in the United States to close all of its institutions for the developmentally disabled. The last one in Oregon closed last fall.
Alaska is the second, but Alaska sends its clients to institutions in other states.
Oregon doesn’t do that. We say we understand the value of people with disabilities and acknowledge they are humans and need to be in our communities.
We as a state say we understand our most vulnerable citizens deserve civil treatment, not mistreatment.
But do we as a state really believe this? Is this the best we can do?
According to the law…”upon the entry of the order, the applicant for purposes of the law shall be deemed not to have been previously convicted, or arrested as the case may be, and the court shall issue an order sealing the record of conviction and other official records in the case, including the records of arrest whether or not the arrest resulted in a further criminal proceeding.”
Excuse me? What the Hell does that mean? It is on her record, she did do it so let’s take away the right of every potential employer to know that? Let’s take away the ability of every adult foster care facility, every nursing home, every program for the disabled to have the best information possible at their fingertips when hiring employee’s to work with these valuable citizens?
Unbelievable.
My wife serves on the board of the Oregon Supported Living Program in Eugene, an agency with 17 homes and hundreds of clients.
I also work for them doing public awareness and with a sister agency called Full Access Brokerage. We asked the CEO’s of these agencies if they knew that someone with a history of Criminal Mistreatment in the Second Degree could and probably would have their records expunged after three years and they too were surprised.
In a recent article in the Eugene Register Guard, written by Erinn Kelley-Seil, director of the Oregon Department of Human Services she talks about holes in the system when it comes to abuse and neglect of the elderly and disabled in Oregon.
“Last year, DHS adult protective services investigated nearly 13,000 reports of abuse and neglect of elderly or physically disabled people. “
According the article “unfortunately it is clear that there are gaps in our current system.”
Do you think?
The article talks of a new process where….
“Background checks are given to potential employers. This new requirement is an important step to ensure safety because only a fraction of substantiated findings of abuse are criminally prosecuted.”
Huh,
I wonder why people just ignore criminal cases like the one that happened to George Diehm. Why prosecute only to find out three years later that the record of the criminal is expunged?
So while the state looks to tighten it’s rules, laws and courts like this one continue to seal problems behind closed doors opening employment and the possible abuse of yet another voiceless person.
I understand Marsha Yarborough has managed not to repeat her mistake for the past three years, and according to the law that makes her eligible for this proceeding.
Of course she hasn’t repeated her mistake because the court has insured that by preventing her from working in this industry for three years.
Now, the same law plans to open the door to the possibilities.
Statistics show 80% of women and 60% of men who are developmentally disabled will suffer abuse in their lifetime.
Now, thanks to Oregon Law, the woman who put George Diehm on that list will soon have the opportunity to do it again.
Oregon needs to give those who operate group homes, nursing homes and other care facilities full access to the records of those who seek employment in their agency. This is not a time for secrecy and forgetting the past. I’m sorry that Marsha Yarborough failed to do her job. I’m sorry she didn’t follow protocol and that it’s hurt her ability to seek employment. But I’m even more sorry for what it did to my brother-in-law, the real victim in this whole case that seems to have been forgotten in all this fairness to the one who committed the crime.
In summary, we as a family feel strongly about the rights of people with developmental disabilities. They are human, they are people and when you get to know them they bring richness to a community that can’t be matched.
Oregon is ahead of the mark when it comes to that realization but if we allow records of those who mistreat these folks to be expunged, as if it never happened, is our humanity just lip service with little in the way of foundation to back it up.
As the head of human services states, this is a time we need to close loop holes….and I would add not wash our hands and simply say the law is the law.
We need to give employers every bit of information available so they can hire competent, professional people, not folks hiding from a criminal mistreatment record.
We the family asks that you not grant this order. Please do not seal Marsha Yarboroughs records and put someone else in our community at risk.
I’m sure there are many things miss Yarborough can do for work but caring for our most vulnerable citizens should not be one of them..

3 Comments

• 
  Greg June 28, 2011 at 8:22 am

  1996… I was stuck in a tub for three days… nothing was done.
• 
  Gretchen July 1, 2011 at 10:17 am

  Rick, Kathy, and Susan,
  Thank you for standing up for Chip and others in this forum. As you can see form Gregg’s comment above, there are others. There are victims all over this nation and it is so important that we speak up and educate people about the needs of those we support, about their rights as human beings on this earth. The right not to be harmed by anyone. Why is it that these crimes against people are seen by the law as removable from a record just because they have not been repeated? It doesn’t make sense and it certainly is beyond comprehension why employers like myself are not privy to this information upon hiring! I am truly sorry for Chip’s suffering, the suffering of all the victims that stand next to Chip, and I am deeply grateful there are families like yours willing to stand up for their rights, be their voice if they do not have one, and continue to fight when you are “tied” to the law. Thank you and it is an honor to support your brother, we love him and will always have a place for him he can call home.
• 
  Rick Dancer July 2, 2011 at 8:27 am

  Thank you Gretchen.