It seems clear that negligence was the probable cause of David’s premature death. David was a vulnerable adult who completely relied on his caregivers to care for all of his basic needs, and he was not given the complete care that he deserved.

Many basic questions still remain unanswered. And as such, it only seems logical and fair for the prosecutor’s office to properly finalize and determine the answers to these questions.

Responsibility needs to be taken for the fact that “Laboratory tests found unusually high levels of paroxetine – more than 16 times normal levels – in Vernon’s blood at the time of his death”, and that David was allowed to be in a such a hot room when hyperthermia was a clearly stated in his plan of care, which contained the known risk and adverse side effects for persons on the medication that David was taking at that time.

I fully support a complete investigation into this matter, so that the vulnerable members of our society receive proper care and equal justice, and most importantly, to prevent an incident as unfortunate as this one from happening again in the future.

Every time we allow a disabled person the autonomy to make their own decisions, we are allowing them to make poor decisions. We cannot, and should not, protect people, even people with disabilities, from making their own mistakes. We also don’t want to pay for the level of supervision and control that would have forced David to live in an institution. And we certainly shouldn’t have to pay for it through the court system.

David had his own room. His privacy. We understand he did not like the fan. Are we to force it on him? Who of us would have predicted this accident?

I did not know David, but I know many like him. Those who knew him surely loved him, and are devastated by what has happened. However, we should not expect the state to monitor and control every aspect of David’s life, in order to prevent this and every other conceivable tragedy that might occur. This is not a good use of our limited resources. More importantly, it would also necessarily restrict David’s autonomy, his freedom, to do what he wanted. That freedom is priceless.

The vulnerable disabled adults in our county and state deserve the protection of the criminal justice system. These cases are not easy to prosecute. They require perseverance, preparation and dedication. Fortunately, Mark Lindquist, Phil Sorenson, and Mary Robnett have these traits. Together we must protect our vulnerable disabled adults.