Salt Lake City man pleads guilty in mother’s death
Court • Mother, 74, was found dead, covered in filth.
Bradley D. Myers wiped tears from his eyes Monday as he pleaded guilty to criminal neglect in the death of his 74-year-old mother.
Myers, 52, was ordered last year to stand trial in 3rd District Court on one count of aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. But prosecutor Blake Hills said Monday there was not enough evidence to prove Myers had acted with malicious intent.
Instead, they worked out a deal, allowing Myers to plead guilty to three counts of criminal neglect, class A misdemeanors, each punishable by up to a year in jail.
Myers was arrested after his mother, Geneil Larsen, was found covered in feces and urine inside the home they shared in April 2011.
He told investigators he had not seen her leave the chair she was found in for more than two weeks. Her skin had begun to break down and a pressure ulcer, deep enough to expose muscle and bone, had formed above her buttocks, causing her death, according to court documents.
At a July preliminary hearing, Myers’ defense attorney said Larsen would cancel her doctor appointments behind his back and would lie about having gotten up and moved around while he was at work.
“I swear to God I did not know that she was like that,” Myers told police at the time of his mother’s death, according to testimony.
Salt Lake City police officers said the home, near 550 East and 600 South, was covered in human and animal feces and garbage, with boxes and other items stacked more than 2 feet high in places, blocking the only bathroom.
Myers is scheduled to be sentenced on March 25 before Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills.
mlang@sltrib.com
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