Which is worse?
OXFORD WEEKLY PLANET
Sunday, September 22, 2024
OPINION
Which is worse: homicide or neglect & fraud? Does it matter?
The Jerry Shaw murder and the Yoknapatawpha Acres scandal
A source close to the Jerry Shaw murder investigation tells Crime Beat that the sheriff's department recently got fingerprints from multiple suspects to compare to prints found at the crime scene in an effort to identify the person responsible for Shaw's death.
No question, a killer should be held accountable for what they did, but given the allegations of rampant neglect and fraud at Yoknapatawpha Acres that have come to light in the aftermath of Shaw's death, who's the real bad guy here?
The stories coming out of the nursing home are appalling, from bogus fees being charged on top of the standard rates to patients' wounds being left to fester. Patients' families and members of the Oxford community alike have been outraged by the discoveries.
There is talk of a looming class-action lawsuit against Yoknapatawpha Acres, its parent company Bundren Healthcare Management Inc., and the recently-arrested former manager Richard Landrigan.
Though nothing has been proven yet, it appears that the late Jerry Shaw also participated in the misconduct. If that's the case, does that mitigate the killer's actions? Should it?
Was Shaw responsible, at least in part, for his own death? There are plenty of people who think he got what he deserved. Some have even said the killer should be congratulated, not punished.
But that's not how we work as a society.
Still, we can hope the district attorney will consider all the circumstances if and when the killer is taken into custody, which our contacts in the YCSD say could be very soon.
