Minnesota nursing home defends rapist: 89-year-old victim was a ‘flirt’

By David Edwards
Sunday, February 23, 2014 9:49 EST

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Topics: Andrew Scott Merzwski ♦ mental health ♦ mental health facility ♦ Theresa Flesvig

 

An elderly woman in Minnesota is seeking punitive damages against a nursing home that placed her in a mental health facility and protected her attacker after she was raped.
According to court documents obtained by the Star Tribune, Edgewood Vista senior living facility forced the 89-year-old woman to spend 72 hours in the mental health unit of St. Luke’s Hospital near Duluth after she reported that 30-year-old Andrew Scott Merzwski had raped her in her bed at the senior home.
The woman said that Merzwski had entered her room as she preparing for bed. After she invited him to watch a movie, he started taking off his clothes.

“It’s not right, this wouldn’t be right,” the woman reportedly told Merzwski, pointing to a photo of her husband.
After the victim’s daughter notified police, Merzwski admitted that he had sex with the 89-year-old woman.
About that same time, the nursing home transferred the woman to a psychiatric ward at St. Luke’s Hospital for nearly three days.
“The room she was in was dark and cold … and they locked her in at night and all she had was a blanket,” nurse examiner Theresa Flesvig said in the court documents.
When Flesvig was finally able to examine the victim, she found the “biggest tear” as a result of rape that she had ever seen in her career.
Testimony filed with the court said that the nursing home’s clinical services director, Marilyn Moore, tried to defend that rapist after he had confessed to police.
“Did she tell you that this was consensual?” Moore asked Flesvig. “Did she tell you that she flirts with this boy mercilessly?”
Moore later allegedly told sexual assault advocate Mary Salisbury that the victim was “was making it up,” and described her as a “flirt.”
“I was just shocked that somebody was so blatantly putting the blame on this woman,” Flesvig noted.
Merzwski was sentenced to 53 months in prison ordered to register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years. The Health Department cited the nursing home for failing to immediately report the rape, but concluded that the Merzwski was solely responsible for the victim’s maltreatment.
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David Edwards

David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.

10 Dec 2013 at 4:01 PM

Biglaw, Crime, Gay, Oral Sex / Blow Jobs, Partner Issues, Quote of the Day, Rape, Real Estate, Sex

A Partner Accused Strikes Back

By David Lat

Stanley B. Stallworth

The allegation is completely unfounded, and we look forward to defending vigorously Stan’s good name and reputation. Stan is a pillar of the community, and he has tirelessly worked on behalf of young people for the past 25 years.

– The Stallworth family, in a statement issued to Am Law Daily regarding the sexual assault charges filed against Stanley Stallworth, a real estate partner in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin, and his nephew, Therrie Miller.

(The full statement and additional commentary, after the jump.)

Here is the rest of the statement from the Stallworth family:

As a former teacher, current member of several nonprofit organizations focused on improving the circumstances of underserved youth and their families, and a major university scholarship donor, Stan remains undaunted in his commitment to improving society by creating more educational, cultural and social opportunities for underserved segments of his community. We are confident that justice will prevail and Stan can resume his normal life.

When we first reported about the story on Friday, Sidley Austin informed us that Stallworth would be taking a leave from the firm so he could fight the charges. And it looks like he’s fighting them vigorously, if his choice of counsel says anything: Am Law reports that he has hired Henderson Adam, a well-known criminal defense boutique in Chicago that is led by former Holland & Knight partner Victor Henderson and local trial attorney Sam Adam Jr..
Victor Henderson used to lead Holland & Knight’s Chicago office. Sam Adam Jr. received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin, which happens to be Stan Stallworth’s alma mater. Their firm, Henderson Adam, has grown to six attorneys since its founding in 2011.
Sam Adam Jr., working together with his father, a prominent Chicago trial lawyer, has experience getting high-profile figures out of legal hot water:

The father-and-son legal team represented disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich at his first corruption trial, which ended before a hung jury. The two Adams stepped back from the ex-governor’s defense in late 2010 after their client ran out of money to pay his legal fees. (Blagojevich is currently appealing his conviction on corruption charges at a second trial.)
The duo also helped Chicago native and R&B singer R. Kelly win an acquittal on child pornography charges in 2008.

If Adam’s good enough for R. Kelly, he’s good enough for S. Stallworth. There are some similarities between the cases: both involve rich and successful African-Americans accused of naughtiness involving young people.
As noted in our earlier story, the Sidley sources we’ve heard from have expressed shock at the charges against Stan Stallworth. If you have information to share with us about the case or about Stallworth, feel free to email us or text us (646-820-8477). Thanks.
Sidley Partner Hires Prominent Lawyer in Sex Assault Case [Am Law Daily via Morning Docket]
Earlier: A Biglaw Partner In Big Trouble, Charged With Sexual Assault — Along With His Nephew

‘Sh*t Law’ Attorney Sentenced to Perform Community Service at Sewage Treatment Plant

14 Jun 2012 at 2:46 PMPosted in:


Crime, Drinking, Drugs, Lawyer of the Day, Marijuana, Nauseating Things, Rape

‘Sh*t Law’ Attorney Sentenced to Perform Community Service at Sewage Treatment Plant

By Staci Zaretsky



This community service stinks.

Ahh, “sh*t law.” In case you aren’t familiar with the term, it’s what some lawyers rudely and condescendingly call legal practice outside of Biglaw. From traffic tickets to personal injury, you name it, and it’s apparently a derivative of “sh*t law.”



Back in March, we brought you a story about Joseph Neal Jr., the apparent king of one of these so-called “sh*t law” practices in Augusta, Georgia. Neal, a prominent personal injury attorney, earned our Lawyer of the Day title after he and his ex-wife racked up criminal charges for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting the family babysitter. Neal later went on to earn 21% of the vote in our March Lawyer of the Month competition.



Now, just a few short months later, Neal has been sentenced after accepting the terms of a plea bargain. The deal reduced a felony rape charge to two misdemeanors. Neal will serve three years of supervised probation, and he’ll also commit to a term of community service that some would call a bit of poetic justice….





Last week, Superior Court Judge James Blanchard sentenced Neal to 100 hours of community service to take place at a sewage treatment plant. From “sh*t law” to literally wading in sh*t; how do ya like them apples? Judge Blanchard claims that he chose the sewage plant for Neal “in keeping with the conduct in this case.”



And as for Neal’s improper conduct, the Augusta Chronicle describes some text messages sent between Neal and the babysitter that caused prosecutors to admit this had turned into a “he said and she said” case:



In one exchange, read aloud by the baby sitter, Neal described himself as a “sex god” and the woman countered, “I’ll have to be the judge of that.”



“I dare you to be the judge of that,” Neal replied.



The messages continued in that manner until the woman said she “doesn’t want to be a tease.”



“You can be our babysitter and sex slave LOL,” Neal stated.



“I don’t know about that,” the woman replied, then later, “You’re going to have to contain yourself.”

Alas, thanks to his conduct, this “sex god” will have to further sully his hands with sh*t outside the confines of his personal injury practice.



Augusta lawyer Joe Neal Jr. gets 3 years’ probation [Augusta Chronicle]

Lawyer Sentenced to Work in Sewage Treatment Plant; Prosecutors Cited ‘Sex God’ Text to Babysitter

[ABA Journal]




http://abovethelaw.com/2012/06/sht-law-attorney-sentenced-to-perform-community-service-at-sewage-treatment-plant/#more-166801