Published: July 16, 2008 12:09 am      

Defendant takes stand in death at care home

EBENSBURG — Personal-care home owner John Anthony Sr. testified Tuesday that he thought it was safe to leave a disabled resident lying on the floor overnight because he appeared to be sleeping, not in distress.

Anthony, 51, of Upper Yoder Township, took the witness stand in his own defense during his trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter and neglect of a care-dependent person in the death of the resident.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations this morning.

Prosecution and defense attorneys will make closing arguments when court reconvenes at 8 a.m., then Judge Timothy Creany will give the jurors instructions in the law before they begin to deliberate the case.

Gregory Hanks, 47, a resident at the Moxham Personal Care Home in Johnstown, was found dead at 7 a.m. Dec. 22, 2006, at the top of the stairs on the second floor.

Anthony was working a 24-hour shift from 9 a.m. Dec. 21 until 9 a.m. Dec. 22.

“He was not bleeding. He was breathing. He looked fine. His body was not twisted in any way. Plus, I didn’t hear him fall,” Anthony told jurors.

That was about 11:15 or 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 21, he said, when resident Pamela Patton called for him. It was the only time, Anthony said, that he checked on Hanks all night.

“He was fine,” Anthony said.

“He was just sleeping. (Otherwise,) I would have called 911, and I wouldn’t be here right now. But he was in no stress.”

His testimony was in sharp contrast to Patton’s, who testified Monday that she had found Hanks collapsed on the floor about 9:30 p.m. Dec. 21.

At that time, she called for Anthony to come to check on Hanks. She testified Anthony told her, “He’s going to be OK here for the night.”

Anthony disputed Patton’s testimony that Hanks smelled of alcohol and appeared to be intoxicated after having gone out drinking.

Anthony testified Hanks had eaten dinner, then received his prescribed medications. He said Hanks did not appear to be drunk and had gone onto the porch about 7 p.m. to smoke, then got a snack around 8 p.m.

Prosecutors concluded their case with the testimony of Georgia Toney, a former attendant at the home, and Brian Brawley, of the Seventh Ward Ambulance. They said ambulances had been summoned four times – twice by Toney and twice by another worker – when Hanks either had fallen or appeared to be in physical distress.

On all four of those instances, Hanks was transported by ambulance to the hospital for treatment, the witnesses said.

Previously, a pathologist set Hanks’ time of death about 2 a.m., plus or minus two hours, and said Hanks could have survived had medical help been summoned.