Wife Drops Guilty Plea in Elder Abuse Case

A Simi Valley woman abruptly withdrew a guilty plea for felony elder abuse on Thursday after a judge said she would face prison time in allegedly neglecting her husband so severely that he was hospitalized with deep bedsores.

Shirley Starkey, 69, pleaded guilty two months ago to one felony count of elder abuse and a special allegation that she caused great bodily harm to her husband, William. Judge Herbert Curtis had previously agreed that Starkey could be placed under house arrest instead of being sent to prison.

But on Thursday, Curtis changed his mind after reading a probation report and letters from William Starkey’s relatives. The documents are not available to the public, but Curtis said that what he read was serious enough to sentence Starkey to prison.

This is the second time Starkey has faced charges of neglecting her husband, who suffered from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. In June 1997, William Starkey fell out of bed and spent an entire day on the floor in his own waste before his wife called 911.

She pleaded no contest to elder abuse and was placed on three years’ probation. She was also ordered to provide a safe, living environment for her husband.

Nine months later, Starkey was arrested when she brought 68-year-old William to the hospital dehydrated, malnourished and with bedsores so deep they exposed his bones. William was placed in a nursing home, but has since died from ailments unrelated to the alleged neglect.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Audry Rohn said she is not surprised that the judge changed his mind.

“This was a crime that required her knowledge and action,” Rohn said after Thursday’s hearing. “She willingly neglected her husband.”

Rohn said the probation report showed that Starkey controlled and dominated her husband and that she did not suffer from mental illness.

But defense attorney Craig Robinson said the case illustrates how difficult it is for the elderly to care for their spouses, especially when there are health complications. Robinson also criticized social workers for not keeping tabs on William Starkey’s health and not helping his wife care for him.

“She is barely able to take care of herself, much less another person,” Robinson said.

The day after Christmas in 1998, Shirley Starkey called a neighbor to say she needed his help taking her husband to the hospital. The neighbor found William Starkey caked in his own feces and covered with open wounds, according to court records.

During an interview with a detective, Shirley Starkey said she couldn’t help her husband because he was cantankerous and mean. She said he wouldn’t eat anything but milk and dessert and that he refused to go to the hospital. She said he also wouldn’t use a bedpan and she had given up trying to put diapers on him.

When showed pictures of her husband’s wounds, she said, “They were just bedsores and he did it to himself,” a Simi Valley detective told the court.

Starkey told the detective she thought the sores would heal, and tried to put diaper rash medication on them.

Curtis scheduled the case for trial next month in Ventura County Superior Court. Starkey could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.