THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510190391
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
A Currituck County judge dismissed a manslaughter charge Wednesday against an Aydlett man who took a nursing home patient on an outing that resulted in her death.
Superior Court Judge William C. Griffin granted defense attorney D. Keith Teague's motion to dismiss the charge, saying the prosecution had failed to show Levie C. Bunch, 69, was criminally responsible for the Dec. 24, 1993, death of Edith Craig.
Bunch left the 69-year-old woman, who suffered from diabetes and dementia, alone in an empty house in Poplar Branch while he shopped for food. During his absence, Craig wandered onto a nearby two-lane highway and was killed.
``The state's evidence is not sufficient for you all to consider the matter any further,'' Griffin told a Currituck County Superior Court jury shortly after the state rested its case.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette had argued that Bunch was grossly negligent when he lied to Sentara Nursing Home personnel about being related to Craig and later left her alone in a remote area, knowing she was incapable of taking care of herself.
``I can't imagine putting her in a more dangerous situation,'' Trivette contended.
Teague, of Elizabeth City, said during opening statements that Bunch should not be faulted for Craig being struck by a car.
``There's absolutely no evidence . . . that he at any time struck her, harmed her or hurt her in any way.''
Later, he added: ``If anybody was negligent, the nursing home was.''
A state nursing home regulator last year levied a $3,000 fine against Sentara Nursing Home in Barco for allowing the outing that resulted in Craig's death.
That decision was overturned on appeal, Sharon Crum, the nursing home's administrator, said on Wednesday.
Testimony during the short-lived trial revealed that Craig became a nursing home patient after her husband died and she was found to be legally incompetent. Her stepdaughter, Mary ``Betty'' Albarron of Maryland, was named Craig's legal guardian.
Nurses at the 100-bed facility, part of the Norfolk-based Sentara Health Systems, testified that Craig was a friendly woman with short-term memory loss. She needed to be reminded to change her clothes and could not be left alone while smoking, they said.
``She was always immaculately dressed and she was always neat. Her makeup was perfect,'' testified nurse Evelyn Blair Miller. ``You could walk into her room, and you wouldn't find anything - anything - out of place.''
Craig rarely received visits from relatives. When Bunch appeared Dec. 22 to take her out to lunch, he told nurse Miller that he was a family member and signed a release assuming responsibility for Craig.
Bunch returned Craig that day without incident and came back around noon on Christmas Eve to take her out again.
He apparently drove her to the beach around noon to dine and shop and eventually ended up at an empty home on Caroon Road some five hours later.
While Bunch went for food at a nearby Food Lion, Craig took her purse and walked onto a dark stretch of nearby Aydlett Road, where she was struck by a car driven by former Aydlett resident Michael S. Menapase.
Menapase was not charged.
At the time of Craig's death, Bunch was facing child molestation charges. He later was convicted in Pasquotank County Superior Court of taking indecent liberties with a child, said Trivette, who also prosecuted that case.
Bunch had also been charged with two counts of kidnapping Craig from the nursing home, but those charges were dropped by the district attorney's office.
The stepdaughter, Betty Albarron, and her husband attended Wednesday's trial.
``I'm devastated,'' she said after the case was dismissed. ``If he hadn't left her alone, she'd still be alive today.''
KEYWORDS: TRIAL MANSLAUGHTER DISMISSED by CNB