caregiver convicted of second-degree murder

Riverside caregiver convicted of second-degree murder in death of disabled stroke victim


Jurors spent roughly three days deliberating before finding 38-year-old Rebecca Marie Perez-Welch guilty of the murder count.

By Staff, City News Service

Thursday, February 24, 2011 comment print page text size

A Riverside caregiver whose neglect and abuse of a 70-year-old mentally disabled stroke victim led to the woman’s death was convicted today of second-degree murder and other charges.

Jurors spent roughly three days deliberating before finding 38-year-old Rebecca Marie Perez-Welch guilty of the murder count, as well as elder abuse and a sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegation in the April 12, 2007, death of Joann Phillips.

Perez-Welch, who began sobbing quietly after the eight-woman, four-man jury’s verdicts were read, faces 15 years to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 28 in the courtroom of Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz.

Meantime, a separate jury was continuing to deliberate the fate of the woman’s ex-husband, who was prosecuted on the same charges. Jurors in the case of Timothy James Welch, 41, went behind closed doors on Feb. 15, but were not in session Friday or Monday.

Perez-Welch’s panel went out at the same time, but was not in session Friday, Monday or Wednesday. The jury announced it had reached a decision immediately after deliberations resumed this morning.

Deputy District Attorney Burke Strunsky told both juries in his closing statement last week that over a seven-month span during which Phillips was under the couple’s supervision, she was never taken to a doctor despite vomiting black liquid and losing weight rapidly.

According to Strunsky, the defendants were state-certified caregivers who began assisting Phillips in 2004, earning about $2,500 a month under the In-home Supportive Services program administered by the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services.

In 2006, Phillips — who had the capacity of a 4-year-old child — suffered a stroke and was left partially paralyzed. Her condition was too much for her brother, David Allred, to manage, so the defendants arranged to move her into their house at 10262 Cook St. in what Strunsky described as an illegal relocation.

The prosecutor alleged that over the ensuing months, Phillips was neglected, starved and beaten.

The last time Phillips was hospitalized in September 2006, she weighed 132 pounds. By the time she died seven months later, she was down to 65 pounds, Strunsky said.

The official cause of death was exsanguination — or catastrophic blood loss.

Perez-Welch’s attorney, Aimee Vierra, told jurors that her client was limited in what she could do for Phillips, over whom Allred had legal guardianship. It was ultimately his responsibility to make decisions regarding Phillips’ medical care, Vierra insisted.

She said doctors at Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center had abandoned pro-active treatment for Phillips, believing the victim was not going to live much longer

Read more:  http://www.swrnn.com/southwest-riverside/2011-02-24/news/riverside-caregiver-convicted-of-second-degree-murder-in-death-of-disabled-stroke-victim

Editor's Note: How many monsters like Perez-Welch are loose and allowed to practice under the leadership of the Probate Court of Cook County? How many deaths of victims like Joann Phillips will it take before these criminals operating under the guise of courts are removed? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com