From  ABC News, Corpus Christi Caller-Times,  AP/Dallas Morning News,and the Austin American-Statesman:

A former state employee was convicted Thursday for his part in the Texas “fight club” abuse case. Six former workers at an institution for people with intellectual disabilities have been accused of forcing residents to fight one another while employees taped the incidents on their cell phones.

Jesse Salazar, 26, was found guilty of intentionally causing injury to a disabled person, a third-degree felony. He faces up to 10 years in prison. Two others have pleaded guilty to causing injury to people with disabilities, and three more are awaiting trial.

“They planned this. They did this on a regular basis,” said Nueces County Assistant District Attorney Doug Mann in his closing argument Thursday. “This was all about their entertainment.”

See also: Commentary by Frank James on NPR news blog

The Texas case is shameful proof that despite advances in how society deals with the mentally disabled, progress [Eunice Kennedy Shriver] greatly contributed to as founder and animating force of the Special Olympics, there are still backwaters of the heart, lacking in compassion for those who are more vulnerable through no fault of their own.

Though Shriver is gone, her work is clearly far from done.

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