Group-home owner pleads not guilty to deaths in '08
5/26/2011The owner of a closed group home pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of two residents in 2008 from excessive heat.
Pamela Shay faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Judge Gene Zmuda set a June 8 pretrial date.
Ms. Shay had been charged in July with two counts each of involuntary manslaughter and recklessly failing to provide for a functionally impaired person, and faced up to 23 years in prison, if convicted. The charges were dismissed in April because assistant prosecutors said she did not fit definitions required in the law.
She was reindicted last month on the lesser felony charges.
The allegations revolve around the deaths of Thomas Calhoun, 47, and John Jones, 79, who lived at Angel Arms, the group home Ms. Shay owned. Toledo police responded to the home at 1577 Bow St., off Western Avenue, on June 9, 2008, on a report of two unresponsive men.
Mr. Calhoun was found dead in an upstairs bedroom, where authorities said the temperature read 90.5 degrees. Mr. Jones, his roommate, died the next week in the University of Toledo Medical Center, formerly the Medical College of Ohio. His temperature was 105.5 degrees when he arrived at the hospital, the Lucas County Coroner's Office said.