An Augusta woman convicted of murder in the death of her profoundly disabled adult son a decade ago appeared by videoconferencing Monday for an initial step in getting an appeal.
Angela Mercer, 53, was found guilty after a one-day bench trial in Richmond County Superior Court in June 2016. She is serving a sentence of life in prison.
Mercer was initially charged with concealing the death of another, her 23-year-old son Robin Lee Adams whose mummified remains were found in her home in October 2012. The charge was upgraded to murder after the medical examiner consulted a forensic anthropology who gave an opinion Adams had iron deficiency anemia. The indictment reads that Mercer caused Adams death by failing to provide proper nutrition and essential services.
Adams was born with a rare genetic disease, cri-du chat syndrome. He couldn’t walk or talk or do any personal daily activity such as eating or grooming on his own. Mercer testified at her bench trial that Adams vomited up everything he was fed, which was corroborated by medical and school records, according to court documents. The only way to keep a feeding tube and/or IV in Adams was to tie him down because he would repeatedly pull out both, Mercer said.
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Mercer said that after Adams’ doctor told her in 2008 that nothing more could be done for her son, she stopped taking him to the doctor and dentist because it was so stressful for Adams that his condition would worsen after such visits. Adams weight documented at his last doctor visit didn’t change significantly before his death.
The former medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Dr. Daniel Brown, testified at Mercer’s bench trial that he couldn’t determine a cause of death for Adams. In his medical career of more than two decades he had only seen one case of cri-du chat syndrome, but he believed people with the disease could live into adulthood. His opinion on the cause of death changed after the forensic anthropologist he consulted on the case informed him that Adams’ bones revealed anemia, which left untreated causes malnutrition that can lead to death. That is why he changed the cause of death from undetermined to homicide, Brown said.
In the motion for a new trial, Mercer’s new attorney said the forensic anthropologist’s report should never have been admitted as evidence because she did not testify at trial. Among other errors, attorney Tanya Jeffords contends there should have been a request to consider a lesser offense of concealing the death of another.
Monday, Nov. 28, Judge John Flythe granted Jeffords’ request for a certificate of need to get the forensic anthropologist in court to testify and obtain reports and information she used to form her opinion about Adams’ medical condition.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
