Jury indicts six for murder
By Carolyn Mathews
Six former counselors at the White County Outdoor Therapeutic Camp allegedly involved in a Douglas County youth's death in April were indicted Monday by a White County Grand Jury.
The six are charged with felony murder, District Attorney Stan Gunter said.
The grand jury also indicted a White County man charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and on his neighbor. That incident occurred in June.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Region 8 Special Agent in Charge John Cagle said arrangements were made with the men involved in the OTP incident to turn themselves in to the White County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday.
The six men formerly worked at the Georgia Department of Human Resources' Appalachian Wilderness Camp and allegedly restrained camper Travis Parker, 14, for more than an hour after a behavior outburst. The six men include Johnny Harris, 26, of Helen; Phillip Elliott, 35, of Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Paul Michael Binford, 28, Ryan Chapman, 29, Matthew John Desing, 26, and Torbin Vining, 27, all of Athens.
Parker stopped breathing after the April 20 confrontation and died the next day. After a GBI investigation, the boy's death was ruled a homicide by the Georgia State Medical Examiner's Office in April.
Georgia Department of Human Resources Mental Health Director Gwen Skinner said Tuesday that the method of restraint, a "full basket," is one taught to employees in training. However, she stressed that it was the conditions surrounding the application of the restraint, not the restraint form itself, that was in question in the OTP camp case.
"The only time manual restraint should be used is when other restrictive methods do not work," she said, "such as when lesser methods such as talking don't work and when the child is putting himself or others in danger."
Gunter said the six men also are charged with one count each of cruelty to children in the second degree and one count each of involuntary manslaughter.
Harris resigned after the incident; the other five men were fired by the Department of Human Resources. The men were let go for allegedly withholding a regular meal from the boy and for not allowing the boy to use his asthma inhaler.
Skinner said DHR fired the men after completing its own investigation of the incident.
Gunter said the felony murder charge results from the death of the boy while a felony allegedly was being committed - cruelty to children in the second degree. The involuntary manslaughter charge results from Gunter's assertion that he is not implying Parker's death was premeditated. Bond has been set for the men at $50,000 each, White County Chief Deputy John O'Brien said. All bonded out Tuesday.
Skinner said the OTP Camp program in White County currently is fully operational, although for a period of time referrals were suspended while the camp worked with children who were there at the time of the incident to help them deal with what happened.
"The agency has completed its internal investigation and jobs were terminated. Now the matter is for the courts - let them do their job," Skinner said. The OTP camp is located off Albert Reid Road off North Highway 129.
In the other indictment, regarding a June 9 incident where a Loudsville man allegedly shot first at his neighbor's home and then at a White County Sheriff's deputy who was responding to the incident, James Michael Warner, 46, was indicted for aggravated assault on a police officer, aggravated assault on his neighbor, who was inside the home at the time of the incident; possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Warner was convicted in Gwinnett County of felony larceny theft by taking in June 1981.
Bond was denied by Enotah Superior Court Judge David Barrett on June 16. Barrett cited the reason for denial of bond as allegedly "shooting at a properly identified law enforcement officer, possession of a firearm by a felon and given the alleged circumstances" of the incident.
Warner remains in the White County Detention Center. |
