Addled Inmate Finally Freed

By JOSH POLTILOVEand SHERRI ACKERMAN The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 18, 2007

TAMPA - Even though his criminal charges were dismissed more than a year ago, Robert Chane Burrell remained behind bars until Tuesday.

Deemed incompetent and mentally retarded, Burrell sat in his wheelchair, in limbo, at Falkenburg Road Jail. Responsibility for his case passed through at least five agencies until a judge this week ordered Burrell's release.

"We all have responsibility to some degree," said Carl Littlefield, area administrator of the Agency for Persons With Disabilities, one of the agencies that was supposed to find Burrell a spot in an assisted-living facility.

"We were all appalled that he was held in jail for as long as he was," said Pauli Young, a court liaison for the agency. "He was not forgotten."

Burrell, 41, who has no family in the area, was admitted to Baylife Senior/Adult Center on Tuesday and will be transferred to Tampa General Hospital until a nursing home bed is available.

"He can't speak. He's in a wheelchair. And he has no resources," Assistant Public Defender John Skye said. "He simply has no place to go."

In February 2004, Burrell was arrested after he broke in to a woman's 2001 BMW, drank her soda and went through her CDs, police say. He was charged with burglary, petty theft and obstructing or opposing an officer.

Nearly four months later, he was found incompetent to stand trial and was placed in the state's Mentally Retarded Defendant Program.

Training Failed

Young, the court liaison, said Tuesday that Burrell was transferred to the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee and received training to restore his competency.

He spent nearly two years there - about the maximum a person can stay without becoming competent to proceed with trial - when DCF officials determined Burrell's competency could not be restored, Young said.

Burrell was transferred to Falkenburg Road Jail on May 11, 2006. Unable to spend time in general population, Burrell stayed in the infirmary, sheriff's Col. David Parrish said.

In June 2006, a judge dismissed the charges with the stipulation that Burrell not be released until the Agency for Persons With Disabilities could place him in an assisted-living facility. Caseworker Rita Diefenderfer began the process of searching for placement.

Asked to comment about Burrell on Tuesday, Judge Robert Foster, who initially oversaw the case, said he didn't recall it.

Documents show Young initially said it was her agency's responsibility to place Burrell in a facility. A month later, in September, court records show, Young "disavowed all responsibility" because her agency didn't place people in nursing homes.

Young said Tuesday the statement was not accurate.

The agency is limited in what services it can provide under the Medicaid waiver and cannot provide nursing home care, she said.

Burrell's condition in two years had deteriorated greatly, and his needs changed significantly, resulting in a shift in responsibility of his case, Young said.

"We were concerned about him," Young said. "We were not brushing him off. We were not able to do the placement."

He Used To Be 'Streetwise'

Allan L. Stewart, a psychological specialist for the Agency for Persons With Disabilities, sent a letter in September to Teri Freeman of the Department of Elder Affairs. In it, he tells Freeman that Burrell's condition does not meet the qualifications for care by the Agency for Persons With Disabilities.

Burrell used to be a "relatively independent and streetwise individual," but his speech and functional abilities had declined, Stewart wrote. His speech was mostly unintelligible, and he no longer was able to use a toilet, bathe or eat without assistance.

Stewart wrote that Burrell's "safety and well being would be better maintained in a skilled nursing facility."

The responsibility shifted again to jail social worker Lisa Coil, who searched for a nursing home to take Burrell. Coil had a difficult time trying to get Burrell's Social Security benefits because she couldn't find a birth certificate.

In October, the responsibility became Lorenzo Anderson's of the Hillsborough County Public Defender's Office, who told a judge he found a facility, Jacaranda Manor nursing home in St. Petersburg.

But the Agency for Persons With Disabilities didn't transfer Burrell there from jail and sent a notice of discharge in January to the public defender's office.

Even though Burrell has been released from jail, Young said, his file with the Agency for Persons With Disabilities will remain open.

Parrish defended his staff and Coil, saying they were proactive in trying to free Burrell. He said it is rare for a person to spend so much time in Hillsborough County's jail system with no charges pending.

The person to blame, Parrish said, is Burrell.

"The circumstances of his background and case are extremely unusual," Parrish said. "Normally, somebody could do something for themselves. He's beyond all of that, and it is very difficult to find places that will handle him."

Paige Code, who said Burrell broke into her BMW, learned Tuesday of the man's recent history. "That's really devastating, and I'm sorry it's happened," she said. "It seems really irresponsible on the part of the justice system."

Researcher Buddy Jaudon contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@ tampatrib.com. Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@ tampatrib.com.

Robert Chane Burrell was in jail for more than a year after charges against him were dropped. Here's a chronology of his time in the criminal justice system:

February 2004: Burrell is arrested on three charges.

June 2004: He is found incompetent to proceed in a trial.

July 2004: He is sent to a Chattahoochee facility.

May 2006: He returns to jail.

June 2006: A motion to dismiss charges against him is granted because he remains incompetent for trial.

September 2006: A letter shows he doesn't meet an assisted-living facility's requirements.

Tuesday: He is released from jail and admitted to Baylife Senior/Adult Center.

Source: Sheriff's Col. David Parrish