Last conviction in Sunmount trials
TUPPER LAKE – A third Sunmount employee was convicted of misdemeanor charges that she tried to cover up the alleged assault of a resident of the Tupper Lake center for people with developmental disabilities.
In Franklin County Court in Malone Tuesday, a jury found Suzanne Decheine, a 51-year-old registered nurse from Tupper Lake, guilty of including false information on medical reports, the lesser misdemeanor charges of two counts of second-degree offering a false instrument for filing. The jury found her not guilty on felony counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, and also cleared her of failing to report the suspected abuse to the Justice Center’s Vulnerable Persons Central Register.
She was the last of five defendants, tried separately, stemming from the 2013 incident at Sunmount. Three of those resulted in convictions, but Decheine’s was the second in which misdemeanor charges stuck but not felonies.
Attorneys from the state Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs prosecuted the cases. The center took over last year after the Franklin County district attorney’s office declined to prosecute the indictments.
“The Justice Center is not shying away from tough prosecutions. This was a long process with multiple defendants, and in the end, we got some measure of justice for the victim,” said Deputy Special Prosecutor Jacqueline Kagan, who was in charge of the prosecuting team.
“She (Decheine) included information to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, details that she knew were incorrect,” Kagan said. “She relayed a false version indicating a different portrayal of the incident, as something other than an unwarranted attack.”
Assistant Special Prosecutor Rachel Dunn and Supervising Assistant Special Prosecutor Deanndra Macomber tried the case in front of St. Lawrence County Court Judge Jerome Richards, sitting in for Franklin County Judge Robert Main Jr. The trial lasted five days.
Decheine’s attorney, Joseph Brennan from Queensbury, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
The charges against Decheine stemmed from Oct. 5, 2013, when the Justice Center claimed Sunmount worker Corey Casciaro assaulted an 18-year-old resident and gave him a head injury, a seizure and a concussion. Prosecutors said neither Casciaro nor his co-workers, Jessica Rice and Scott Norton, sought immediate medical assistance for the victim. The Justice Center alleges the trio took time to concoct a story to cover up the facts and circumstances surrounding the victim’s injuries, and that co-workers Jeff Defayette and Decheine were culpable as well.
Casciaro was acquitted of all charges following a five-day jury trial in August. Norton’s case was dismissed by a Franklin County judge on Sept. 2. In May, a jury convicted Defayette of second-degree falsifying a written instrument for filing, a class A misdemeanor, but acquitted him of a felony charge of first-degree falsifying a written instrument for filing.
Rice was convicted of felony and misdemeanor charges last month in Franklin County Court. She previously faced 12 charges for tampering with public records and falsifying business records.
Kagan said Rice’s felony conviction from the same court two weeks ago means the jury found there was an added level of intent in her case.
“She gave the impression nothing went wrong,” Kagen said of Rice.
Decheine’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 5. Kagan said the outcome could affect Decheine’s nursing license.