A man left his father in 'deplorable' living conditions. Why judges denied his appeal

David C.A. Flower lived alone with his bedridden father in Lawrence Park Township. Police said he was supposed to care for him.

Instead, police said, Flower stole more than $118,000 from his dad, fed him only once or twice a week and left him comatose, malnourished, suffering from pneumonia and hypothermia from the cold and covered in feces, urine and insect bites in early 2022, when his dad was 57.

Flower, 32, admitted to the theft and maltreatment in Erie County Common Pleas Court. He pleaded guilty to the felonies of neglect of a care-dependent person and financial exploitation of an older adult or care-dependent person.

A prosecutor at the plea hearing outlined the evidence, including that Flower's father was living in "deplorable conditions." The plea led a judge to sentence Flower to 3½ to seven years in state prison.

Flower has failed in his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea.

In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of Pennsylvania Superior Court has upheld Flower's conviction. The panel rejected Flower's claims that Judge John J. Mead erred by refusing to let Flower withdraw his guilty plea before Mead sentenced him in September 2023.

The Superior Court panel referred to a statement that Chief Deputy District Attorney Steven Liboski said at sentencing in support of the evidence against Flower. Liboski called the case "horrifying."

Appeals court affirms judge's ruling on plea

The Superior Court affirmed Mead's finding that Flower, the appellant in the case, pleaded guilty knowingly and voluntarily after an extensive plea hearing held before another judge, David Ridge, in July 2023.

Mead, according to the Superior Court decision, also properly rejected Flower's claim that his lawyer "pressured" him into pleading guilty. The Superior Court agreed with Mead's findings that Flower's "bald claim of innocence" was "incredible" based on the strength of the prosecution's case.

The evidence, the Superior Court said, included the physical condition of Flower's father, statements from Flower's father and another family member as well as financial statements that showed Flower bilked his father of $118,551.79 by making 951 unauthorized bank transactions and by selling his father's tools, riding lawnmower, patio furniture and other items without his consent.

"We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding Appellant's claim of innocence was not plausible," the Superior Court panel said in a 17-page decision filed Friday. "The trial court did not err in holding that Appellant did not have a fair and just reason for allowing the presentence withdrawal of his guilty plea."

Police: Victim said he 'was starving'

Police said the decline of Flower's father started in 2021.

The father, now 59, became ill and bedridden in August 2021, according to the affidavit of probable case attached to the criminal complaint against Flower. Flower, the affidavit said, had lived with his father for years in a mobile home on Saga Street in Lawrence Park, and Flower's family expected that he would continue to care for his father during his period of incapacitation.

The investigation into the father's physical condition started in early 2022. Acting on a tip about possible abuse, an adult protective services investigator with the state Department of Human Services visited the father's residence on Jan. 4, 2022, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

The investigator found the father on his bedroom floor, unconscious, nude and covered in his own feces, according to the affidavit. The father had fallen out of bed and was unable to get up.

The investigator, according to the affidavit, "called for an ambulance immediately as another day of neglect laying on the floor would have resulted in the Victim's death." The father was diagnosed at UPMC Hamot with hypothermia and pneumonia, and was found to be "severely malnourished" — he weighed 150 pounds rather than his usual 260 pounds, according to the affidavit and the Superior Court decision.

The condition of the mobile home — which the father no longer owns — was "uninhabitable" and police recommended that those who go inside should wear hazmat gear, according to the affidavit. "There was a putrid odor of garbage and fecal matter" coming from inside the residence "with large swaths of insects and bugs flying within the home," according to the affidavit.

The protective services investigator contacted the Lawrence Park police in February 2022, according to the affidavit. Patrolman Nathan Angelo investigated and developed the affidavit of probable cause.

Angelo interviewed the father. The interview "confirmed that the Defendant failed to feed and care for him," Angelo wrote in the affidavit, referring to Flower. "The Victim was lucky if he received a meal once every six to seven days."

"The Victim recalls laying on his bed and screaming at the top of his lungs to get the attention of the Defendant," according to the affidavit. "When the Defendant arrived in the room, he told the Victim to 'shut the (expletive) up.' The Victim expressed to the Defendant that he was starving and was in need of food."

Angelo charged Flower in July 2022. He pleaded guilty a year later.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Man convicted of 'horrifying' parental neglect denied appeal