An Augusta woman charged with neglect and exploitation of a vulnerable adult after her 62-year-old father arrived at the hospital with multiple pressure wounds that exposed bone was granted a $25,000 bond Wednesday, Sept. 21.
Dianna Laws, 38, has been in jail since Dec. 10, 2021 the day her father, Bobby Laws, died, which was five days after being admitted to the hospital in respiratory failure. He was covered in stage 4 pressure wounds, also known as bed sores, Assistant District Attorney William Hammond said during Laws’ Richmond County Superior Court bond hearing.
Previously bond had been denied pending the outcome of the autopsy. Now the state medical examiner’s office has stated in the report that Bobby Laws’ manner of death as natural causes, Hammond said.
Bobby Laws weighed just 66 pounds when he died.
He was hospitalized in April 2021 after he was found naked and covered in feces wandering the streets. When he was released from the hospital in August 2021, the state’s Adult Protective Services decided it was all right for him to be returned into Dianna Laws’ care, Hammond said.
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When he was released from the hospital in August 2021, he weighed 176 pounds. On Dec. 5, he weighed 66 pounds. The medical staff reported his physical condition indicated he was left in a fetal position or a confined space for an extended period of time, Hammond said.
When law enforcement entered Dianna Laws’ home, they found a meth pipe in the kitchen. There was no food in the house. They also discovered she had taken out a $10,000 life insurance policy on her father a few days earlier, Hammond said.
Defense attorney Kara Stangl asked the judge to set bond for Dianna Laws, a mother of three children. Her father did have a history of refusing medical care, according to the medical examiner’s report, and a history of self-neglect, Stangl said.
She was trying her best to take care of her father but was not equipped to be a full-time caregiver, Stangl said. She didn’t get any help from other family members who now feel guilty and are in support of Dianna Laws, Stangl said.
Judge Ashley Wright set the $25,000 bond. Conditions include living with her daughter, receiving treatment for addiction and mental health and not serving as a caregiver for another living person or animal. She is also to be under house arrest except for medical care and legal matters, Wright said.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
