Defense begins today in Geneva sisters' neglect trial
Two Geneva sisters accused of neglecting their elderly mother before her death characterized themselves on Friday as a caring, compassionate pair that were simply overwhelmed by their mother's deteriorating health and need for almost constant care.
Jill and Julie Barry are accused of criminal neglect in the April 2007 death of their mother, Mary Virginia Barry, 84, of Geneva.
If convicted, they face up to five years in prison. Judge Allen Anderson last week threw out a more serious charge that carried a maximum seven-year sentence.
The eldest Barry died a week after paramedics were called to her home in the 400 block of Peyton Street April 20, 2007 where she was found emaciated, malnourished, covered in bedsores and her hands caked in feces.
Jill Barry, 55, said her mother suffered a severe stroke Feb. 25, 2004 and her health steadily declined to the point where her daughters worked in shifts to bathe her, cut up her food to help her eat and change her adult diapers. Mary Barry also was diagnosed with dementia, was occasionally combative, had mood swings and didn't want to stay in a nursing home.
Jill Barry testified that her flexible work schedule allowed her to stop in and check on her mother three times a day at the home all three shared. Jill Barry also recited a chronology of doctor visits, rehabilitation schedules and detailed her mother's failing health in letters that were faxed to Mary Barry's doctor.
"Her spirits are good, but she is definitely failing," Jill Barry wrote in one fax.
The sisters testified they called paramedics to take the elder Barry to the emergency room on April 20, 2007, because she was listless and weak. Jill Barry testified that she overheard a nurse at Delnor Hospital in Geneva make a phone call saying Mary Barry may be a victim of abuse.
"I stood right up to her and said, 'My mother has never been abused,' " Jill Barry testified.
Julie Barry testified that her 19-year-old son, who also lived in the house, had behavioral problems that added to the stress of taking care of her mother.
"It's hard to take care of an aging parent and a teenage son that has some problems," she said.
In a bench trial before Anderson, doctors and medical experts testified last month that Mary Barry's death was caused by complications from pneumonia and cancer. However, it appeared her malnourished and dehydrated body needed medical care for several weeks before her death and the delay in treatment left her vulnerable to infection and prone to disease, doctors testified.
Friday, Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti questioned how both Barry sisters, who told police they bathed Mary Barry daily, could miss the large bedsores on her back.
Closing arguments will start at 10 a.m. June 17.