No charges will be filed
in the death of a developmentally disabled resident at the soon-to-be-shuttered Carlton Palms Educational Center, the State Attorney’s Office decided.
No charges will be filed in the March 1 death of an autistic resident at the soon-to-be-shuttered Carlton Palms Educational Center, the State Attorney’s Office in Lake County decided.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office had asked prosecutors to charge care-giver Justin Maynor with manslaughter for a fatal tussle with the resident, William “Willie” Lamson, 26.
An autopsy concluded Lamson died of “traumatic asphyxia” and termed the death a homicide.
But Walter Forgie, supervising assistant state attorney in Lake County, released an 11-page memo last week explaining the decision, providing details of the probe and citing Lamson’s “long history of difficult and dangerous behaviors including a high level of self-injury behavior, physical aggression, tantrums, elopement and property destruction.”
The memo said prosecutors “would be unable to establish beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt that the actions of Justin Maynor in this case constitute a reckless disregard of human life that would rise to the level of culpable negligence.” It also notes the medical examiner can’t say with certainty what caused Lamson’s fatal internal injuries.
In an interview with sheriff’s detectives, Maynor said Lamson attacked him from behind and he reacted by spinning the autistic man to the floor and landing on top of him. He said he stayed on Lamson for “probably like a minute.” Maynor outweighed Lamson by more than 40 pounds and was accustomed to working with the smaller but “unpredictable” Lamson, a resident of the facility since April 2005, according to sheriff’s reports.
According to the prosecutor’s memo, facility records show Lamson had 119 documented episodes of aggression, 256 episodes of selfinjury and 132 reported tantrums last year. Many of the incidents involved him banging his head.
The day he died, Lamson interrupted Maynor as the staffer was trying to distribute prescription medicine to other residents. Maynor then snatched Lamson’s helmet from his head and led him to a bedroom where they tussled.
Detective Joseph Brocato noted Lamson often wore a soft helmet as protection from an obsessive compulsion to bang his head. He had previously self-inflicted injuries, one of which left him blind in his right eye.
“It should be noted [Lamson] was extremely attached to his helmet and always wanted to wear it, except when he slept, when ... he would hold the helmet like a teddy bear,” Brocato wrote in a probablecause affidavit.
Lamson’s family was upset by the decision not to prosecute.
“We were very disappointed in the justice system,” the victim’s uncle, David Lamson Keene, said in a phone interview.
He also blamed his nephew’s death on inadequate care and training at the for-profit facility run by Bellwether Behavioral Health, formerly known as Advo Serv and owned by a New York private equity firm, Wellspring Capital Management.
Lamson was scheduled to be moved to a smaller group home as part of the state’s effort to shut Carlton Palms, his uncle said.
Carlton Palms was closing amid growing criticism of its treatment of its severely disabled residents, including Lamson, one of two autistic persons whose deaths at the facility sparked investigations.
In 2013, the residential facility was investigated by county and state authorities after the death of Paige Elizabeth Lunsford, 14, who was vomiting while tied in restraints all night. An autopsy concluded she died of dehydration.