Former Ethics Board Chair Being Sued For (INCREDIBLY) Unethical Elder Abuse

In my 2012 documentary film, Last Will and Embezzlement, Hollywood icon (the late) Mickey Rooney, who had been the victim of elder financial exploitation, warns the audience, “If it can happen to Mickey Rooney, it can happen to anyone.” Today, in Massachusetts, a 28-count elder abuse / elder exploitation lawsuit is pending against an astounding 66 defendants — including 15 attorneys — one of whom, I was appalled to learn, is John O. Mirick (Mirick, O’Connell, DeMallie & Lougee), the former Chair of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers (what others would refer to as the Legal Ethics Board).

This landmark lawsuit, filed by Attorneys Coreen Goodwin and James Bailey Brislin, alleges a shocking, even ghoulish RICO scheme to actually imprison an elderly couple in a nursing home for the final, horrific year of their lives, steal their money and property during that year, conceal their wills from the rightful executors, then thoroughly plunder their estates after their deaths, just six days apart.

Sound improbable? Maybe even fictitious? It’s not. In fact, it’s a lot more common than you might imagine. Since I released my film, I have become privy to stories of avarice and thievery, murder and depravity, that would curl your hair and turn your stomach. This is one such tale, and over the coming weeks and months, I will be sharing with you the chronicles of one woman (Sarah, the victims’ daughter) who chose to earn a law degree, not only to obtain post-mortem justice for her parents, but to dedicate the rest of her life to saving others from suffering the same fate.

This is not just your average David and Goliath story – this is David simultaneously battling more than sixty Goliaths, including some of Boston’s largest and most prestigious law firms, two real estate agencies, two health care conglomerates, a nursing home, a funeral home, a surety bond company, five nurses, a social worker, a doctor, and a fire department captain – all of whom, in one way or another, were (allegedly) complicit in the conspiracy to hasten the end of the Oultons’ lives (the Oultons being the elderly couple in question), and then unlawfully pillaging their entire estate.

In November of 2011, Carol Oulton was admitted to Marlborough Hills Nursing Home to recover from a broken leg, but was overdosed (allegedly) by staff within 24 hours of her arrival, whereupon she was rushed to UMass Memorial Hospital, in a coma. Sarah, who was caring for her dad, Donald, who suffered from dementia, decided that if her mom recovered, she (Sarah) wanted to find her mom a better place to recuperate.

However, the suit alleges, the Oultons’ other three children conspired with Marlborough Hills and their attorneys to force Donald into that facility, as well, and then blocked both Donald and Carol from ever having contact, in any manner, with Sarah or any of their friends. On top of that, they separated the couple – forced them to live apart.

So that was it – they had no way out, no-one to lean on, and no way to get help. That was how this loving couple, married more than fifty years, spent the final year of their lives: alone, isolated, being victimized in every way possible, separated from everything and everyone they had ever known or loved, until their deaths, one year later. (Click to Continue)

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Former Ethics Board Chair Being Sued For (INCREDIBLY) Unethical Elder Abuse

Judge Ken Anderson Resigns Amid Ethics Lawsuit

Williamson County state district Judge Ken Anderson, who oversaw the wrongful murder conviction of Michael Morton in 1987, submitted a letter to Gov. Rick Perry on Monday resigning his position effective immediately.

Anderson is facing both civil and criminal court proceedings for his role in prosecuting Morton for the 1986 murder of his wife, Christine Morton. Attorneys for Morton allege that Anderson withheld critical evidence that pointed to Morton's innocence and that he lied to the judge about the existence of that evidence. Morton was sentenced to life in prison and spent nearly 25 years behind bars before DNA testing revealed that he was innocent and connected another man to his wife's killing. He was released from prison in 2011.

In a statement, Anderson made no reference to the Morton case and thanked his supporters. For the "foreseeable future" he said he would be focused on "making the transition into private life."

"There comes a time when every public official must decide that it is time to leave public life," Anderson said in the statement released by his lawyer, Eric Nichols. "For me and my family, that time is now."

Morton's lawyers, John Raley of the Houston law firm Raley & Bowick, and Barry Scheck of the New York-based Innocence Project, said Anderson's resignation was "long overdue."

"We look forward to an adjudication of the pending disciplinary action brought by the state bar as well as the pending criminal charges," they said in an emailed statement. "Judge Anderson deserves a fair trial, but if there are findings against him in either proceeding, we would expect that appropriate penalties be imposed.”

Anderson was appointed to the bench by Gov. Rick Perry in 2002 and the State Bar of Texas named him “Prosecutor of the Year” in 1995. Perry responded to Anderson on Monday with a letter accepting the resignation and thanking the longtime prosecutor and judge for his service.

The State Bar filed a disciplinary case against Anderson last year, and the trial is scheduled to begin on Monday in Williamson County. Anderson could be disbarred if he is found to have violated professional rules of conduct in securing Morton's wrongful conviction.

Anderson is also facing criminal charges after Tarrant County state district Judge Louis Sturns, following a court of inquiry in February, charged the former prosecutor with tampering with government records (a misdemeanor), tampering with physical evidence (a felony) and failing to comply with a judge's order to turn over such evidence, for which he could be held in “contempt of court.”

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Judge Ken Anderson Resigns Amid Ethics Lawsuit