From ABC News:

A former Texas state employee has pleaded guilty for his role in organizing brawls between residents of an institution for people with intellectual disabilities. Guadalupe De Larosa accepted a plea agreement, admitting to three counts of injuring a person with an intellectual disability, and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Another former employee, who has been granted immunity in exchange for her testimony, said she had seen De Larosa videotaping the fights with a cellphone.

Two other former state employees have received jail sentences for their role in the fights, and another has received a two-year suspended sentence. A sixth is awaiting trial.

In the wake of the widely publicized incident, and following a highly critical report from the U.S. Department of Justice, Texas legislators last year declined to close the state’s 13 institutions. They voted to spend $112 million to improve the institutions and tighten management practices.

Earlier posts here.

From the [Minneapolis-St. Paul] Star-Tribune, KSTP-TV:

A Minnesota man has gotten double the state’s recommended sentence for his role in the kidnapping, beating and torture of Justin Hamilton, 26, who has fetal alcohol syndrome and a developmental disability.

Jonathan Diepold was the last of five suspects sentenced for the attacks, in which Hamilton was lured from his home by acquaintances and brutalized over three days. Prosecutors said the men targeted Hamilton because a teenage girl made up a story that he had assaulted her.

Hamilton told reporters he doesn’t accept the apologies of those convicted of the crimes. “These men wanted to light me on fire alive and leave me for dead,” he said. “I will never forgive them and neither will God. No matter how much they go to church, no one’s ever going to forgive them.”

Earlier posts here.

From the Chicago Tribune:

A convicted felon has been charged with the murder of a dementia patient at an Illinois nursing home, exposing the dangerous mix of violent and vulnerable residents at residential facilities in that state.

Ardyce Nauden, 62, has been charged with homicide in the beating death of 72-year-old Andres Cardona, who wandered into Nauden’s room and began eating his lunch. Nauden, who has a history of felony drug convictions and aggressive behavior, was described as “psychotic.”

Illinois is an outlier among states in its reliance on nursing homes to house adults with mental illness, including thousands of felons such as Nauden whose disabilities qualify them for Medicaid-funded nursing care.

A recent Tribune investigation documented numerous cases when elderly and disabled people such as Cardona were assaulted and even murdered by fellow nursing-home residents. The governor and state legislature have held hearings in response and are considering a series of reforms aimed at making the facilities safer and overhauling how Illinois houses and treats the mentally ill.

See also:

Convicted felons are regulars at sheltered workshop for the disabled – Salt Lake Tribune

Sheltered workshops in Utah serve the dual role of providing second chances for felons and jobs for people with developmental disabilities. Most states avoid mixing the two populations, but Utah officials said they have had no reports of clients being harmed.

A supervisor at a sheltered workshop said the ex-offenders are needed to keep such programs afloat because they bring the skills needed to attract manufacturing contracts.

From ABC News (with video):

Two teacher’s aides are facing felony criminal charges for allegedly abusing Montana middle school students with disabilities last year.

Witnesses have accused Julie Parish and Kristina Marie Kallies of abusing 14-year Garret Schilling, who has Fragile X syndrome and limited verbal skills, by holding his head under running water, making him eat his own vomit, and leaving him sitting in his own feces for prolonged periods.

Other families have also come forward with allegations of abuse, including one report that a girl with cerebral palsy came home with chunks of hair missing.

The aides have resigned but deny the allegations.

See also:

Great Falls educators open window on special ed in wake of abuse charges — Great Falls Tribune

Editorial: Sunshine could help reassure special-needs community — Great Falls Tribune

Attorney general won’t investigate alleged school abuse — Great Falls Tribune

Special Ed Teacher Accused of Abusing Students – [Nashville, TN] WSMV

Lawsuit claims teacher abused special needs students – Nashville Newschannel5

Erica Westly writes in Slate that the case of British computer enthusiast Gary McKinnon grants a glimpse of a new courtroom tactic: the “Asperger’s defense.”

McKinnon is being charged with hacking into U.S. military computers to find evidence of UFOs. His lawyers are trying to convince the European Court of Human Rights that Asperger’s syndrome prevents him from enduring the stress of extradition and a U.S. trial.

Westly says lawyers are using the defense to argue for lenient sentences in cases ranging from computer fraud to sexual misconduct and murder. McKinnon’s supporters have taken the reasoning a step further, saying he shouldn’t be locked up at all; they say it would be cruel and unusual to put someone with his social impairments in a conventional prison where he would be forced to interact with others.

“The problem with this line of reasoning is that it’s not clear where else you might put these vulnerable inmates,” she says.

(Photo from [UK] Telegraph)

From the [Minneapolis-St. Paul] Star Tribune:

A fifth and final suspect has been convicted in last year’s kidnapping and torture of a man with disabilities in rural Minnesota. Twenty-two year-old Jonathan M. Diepold was convicted of six violent crimes and a misdemeanor in the attack on Justin Hamilton 25, who has fetal alcohol syndrome. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of at least eight years in prison.

Carolyn Hamilton, Justin’s mother, says her once happy-go-lucky son has emotional scars that will never go away.

A year later, he not only has nightmares but also day terrors when he recalls smelling gasoline and hearing them discuss whether they would set him on fire, before he passed out, Carolyn Hamilton said.

… “Justin will have a lot to deal with for a long time after they’ve finished their prison sentences,” she said.

Earlier posts here.

From the Salt Lake Tribune, [Salt Lake City] Deseret News:

A Utah man was arrested this week when a 14-year-old boy, described by police as “severely mentally challenged,” was found chained to a couch.

Tai Ngo, the boy’s uncle and primary caregiver, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of felony abuse or neglect of a disabled child. Police said they believe Ngo would take the boy, who was described as “nonverbal,” to his grandmother’s apartment and chain him to the couch during the day while he went to work.

Law enforcement documents alleged Ngo would also lock the teenager in a room “that had nothing in it for extended periods of time,” and said another length of chain was attached to a couch in Ngo’s apartment. The arrest came after an apartment maintenance man noticed the teenager chained to the couch.