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Hearing today for teen in elder abuse case
Published Friday, May 29, 2009
One of the two young women charged as an adult in the case of alleged abuse at Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea is slated to appear today in Freeborn County District Court for a contested omnibus hearing.
The young woman, Brianna Broitzman, 19, faces three counts of fifth-degree assault by a caregiver to a vulnerable adult, six counts of criminal abuse by a caregiver, one count of disorderly conduct and one count of failure to report the maltreatment of a vulnerable adult at the nursing home.
Co-defendant Ashton Larson faces similar charges but will not appear for her contested omnibus until July.
The charges came in December after an investigation into allegations of abuse by the Albert Lea Police Department, the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota Department of Health.
Brianna Broitzman
Ashton Larson
At Broitzman’s hearing today and Larson’s hearing later this summer, the lawyers for both young women are expected to make arguments about the
constitutionality of statements made by their clients to investigators.
According to court documents, Broitzman’s lawyer, Larry Maus, asked for an order suppressing the confession and oral statements of Broitzman “on the grounds that the statement was obtained in violation of defendant’s constitutional rights, or alternatively, that the confession was involuntary or the product of a threat or promise.”
He also asked for an order dismissing the criminal complaint against Broitzman for a lack of probable cause.
Larson’s attorney has filed similar motions.
The details of the allegations surfaced last August after the release of the Department of Health’s report. It concluded four teenagers were involved in verbal, sexual and emotional abuse of 15 residents at the nursing home in Albert Lea. The residents suffered from mental degradation conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Broitzman and Larson were formally charged as adults for the alleged abuse, and four others, who were juveniles at the time of the alleged incidents, were charged for mandated failure to report suspected abuse.
Look to AlbertLeaTribune.com for information after the hearing.
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Comments
Posted by leeleebelle (anonymous) on May 29, 2009 at 9:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Unbelievable if they don't get sentenced for a long time for their awful, awful, gross, crass actions against helpless senior citizens. . Another outrageous situation where it's getting to be a case of do whatever you want to, break the law and hurt others without serious consequences to the perpetrator and ultimately, in essence, getting away with it.
Posted by Foolish (anonymous) on May 29, 2009 at 11:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I wish they would stop referring to these adult women as teenagers. The paper makes them sound like they are sweet little girls who didn't do nothing wrong. There needs to be harder verbiage used to actually describe these abusers.
Posted by weisbb1 (anonymous) on May 29, 2009 at 11:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I hope Nelson and the whole town know we are all watching and waiting for the results of this hearing. We have not forgotten. Let justice be served--many years in jail for both girls should do it as well as registering as sex offenders.
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