Son of woman fused to chair pleads to abuse

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - An Independence man whose 74-year-old mother died after being found partially fused to a chair has pleaded guilty to elder abuse and forgery.

James Owens, 53, was sentenced to a year in jail Wednesday after pleading guilty in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Owens was charged with involuntary manslaughter after his mother, Carol Brown, died of an apparent stroke last November. Medical personnel found her several days earlier in the home she shared with Owens, who was her caretaker.

Brown had spent several days in a vinyl recliner to which her legs were partly fused.

Family members later told investigators that Owens had complied with his mother's wish to refuse medical treatment and die at home.

The forgery charge stemmed from the cashing of a Social Security check.