A Nevada man has his charges of elderly abuse reduced after the Washoe County District Attorney ruled he did not mean to hurt his mom last July.
Edward Sibley told authorities that he and his 81-year-old mom lived in motels and in their car last summer due to homelessness.
Sibley had to leave his mother alone inside the car on July 14 to go work. He parked the car outside his workplace and gave her the keys to turn the air-conditioning.
He claimed that he did not find better places to park so he left the car in the sun for nearly 8 hours. Sibley said that he brought the woman a burrito at lunchtime and she seemed fine.
The woman was found at around 3:30 p.m. “drooling and unconscious” inside the vehicle and died at a local hospital.
“Initially when it came in it was charged as a felony,” DA Michelle Bays said. “After additional review, and a lot of circumstances came to light, it was tragic but tragedy doesn’t always equate to felony charges.”
“That hinged on poor choices, very difficult circumstances. There was homelessness involved, there were certainly attempts to care but the bad decision really hinged on the circumstances of that day.”
“There wasn’t proof or evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt and there really wasn’t evidence at all to prove that he had any intent to cause harm.”
