COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A Cobb County man will spend at least five out of his 10 years in prison for neglect of a 91-year-old man after a sentencing hearing on Friday.
The Cobb County District Attorney's Office reports that 35-year-old Landon Terrel was convicted by a jury of neglecting Adam Bennett, a resident of Sunrise Assisted Living Center on Johnson Ferry Road, back in 2017.
Prosecutors said that around 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 15 of that year, Bennett was found in his room with a bruised lip. Bennett later told a day-shift caregiver he had been punched. They said he then motioned to his face, chest, and groin. He soon became unresponsive and was taken to WellStar-Kennestone Hospital where he was found to have multiple rib fractures, a collapsed lung, and facial bruising.
He never regained consciousness and died just days later.
“Adam Bennett died from painful injuries. He suffered. And the person responsible for easing that suffering … did nothing,” Senior Assistant District Attorney Jason Marbutt said during sentencing.
Prosecutors said evidence collected by police showed that Terrel was the only man working the overnight shift at Sunrise the night Bennett was injured. He denied hitting Bennett and said the elderly man had no facial bruising when he checked on him around 6 a.m.
Terrel claimed he caught Bennett as he fell out of bed the previous evening. He said Bennett hit his chest on the bed and that he checked him hourly throughout the night.
But Terrel also said that Bennett repeatedly complained of pain and the caregiver admitted, according to prosecutors to using "poor judgment" in ignoring those complaints.
“This Defendant knowingly and intentionally failed to provide healthcare to a 91-year-old man,” ADA Marbutt said.
Despite his explanation, Cobb County Chief Medical Examiner Christopher Gulledge ruled the elderly man's death a result of blunt force trauma as a result of an assault.
"My dad was a strong guy who had a strong heart,” said Doug Bennett, the victim's son said. "This man knows what he did. ... He took my father away."
On July 17, the trial began and lasted a week. Deliberations lasted roughly three days. Jurors convicted Terrel of elder neglect but acquitted him on two counts of elder abuse and one of felony murder based on abuse. The Cobb County District Attorney's Office said the jury wasn't able to reach a unanimous verdict on the murder charge.
Two of Terrel's colleagues also testified at Friday's sentencing that other patients had complained about him. It also came out that he had been fired from other caregiving jobs for neglecting his patients and duties according to the DA's office.
Terrel, who has remained in custody since his arrest in August 2017, will get credit for time served. When he is released, he won't be allowed to care for any elderly people while he is on probation under orders from Judge Lark Ingram.
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