Ex-Whiting worker pleads no-contest
It’s the third such plea in patient-abuse scandal
MIDDLETOWN — Lance Camby, a former mental health worker at the state’s Whiting Forensic Hospital, pleaded “nocontest” Tuesday to a felony cruelty charge in the patient-abuse scandal that rocked the maximum security psychiatric facility in Middletown last year, and will avoid prison if he testifies truthfully in the coming trial of co-defendant Mark Cusson, an ex-forensic nurse.
If Camby violates the cooperation deal, he could serve up to three years in prison, said his lawyer, Kevin Ferry of New Britain.
The no-contest, or nolo contendere, plea is like a guilty plea and results in a conviction. It means the defendant doesn’t admit guilt but agrees a conviction at trial would be likely.
Ten former employees of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services were arrested and more than 30 were fired over the unprovoked, weekslong abuse of William Shehadi, a physically ailing and profoundly mentally ill patient. State police detectives based their case on hours of surveillance tape that captured the interactions between the staff members and Shehadi, who often appeared to be sleeping or cowering on his bed
The case unfolded in increments over the past 18 months, each revelation more cringeworthy than the last, and raised questions about about the leadership abilities of Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, the commissioner of mental health. She was the choice of former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and has been nominated for a second stint by Gov. Ned Lamont.
Former Whiting workers Carl Benjamin and Gregory Giantonio also have pleaded no-contest. Seven other cases are pending. Cusson is headed for a trial, where Camby will be expected to testify.
Whiting, on the campus of Connecticut Valley Hospital, has new managers and has been placed under more outside scrutiny since the scandal broke. Most of the patients housed there have been acquitted of crimes by reason of insanity. William Shehadi was admitted in 1995 after being acquitted by reason of mental disease or defect in the death of his elderly father in Greenwich.
A pair of lawsuits — one state, one federal — brought by the patient’s brother, Al Shehadi, a health care finance expert from Greenwich, allege torture and extreme indifference by management in the alleged abuse. The civil cases are still in their early stages. The office of newly elected Attorney General William Tong is defending the agency in the cases.
A surveillance camera in Shehadi’s room fed a constant stream of images to video monitors at the nurses station, but no one watched the footage while the misconduct was going on. It took a whistle-blower to get the administration to watch the tape.