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Woman gets 7 years in prison in death of mom
The deceased woman was found with about 150 bug bites on her.
LISBON — A woman who let her mother live in filth with little food said of her mom: “She was not a clean person.”
Robin S. Jackson, 49, of East Third St., Salem, made the comment Friday before she was sentenced to seven years in prison for her treatment of her mother, Shirley Nutter, with whom she lived.
Jackson also said her family members would not help her with the care of Nutter.
“I was responsible for certain things,” Jackson said. “I tried my best. I made up excuses. I’ll take the responsibility when it comes to me.”
She previously pleaded to charges of involuntary manslaughter and failure to provide for a functionally impaired person.
Relatives notified authorities about Nutter’s living condition.
Tim McNicol, an assistant Columbiana County prosecutor who handles abuse cases, asked Dr. William Graham, the county coroner, to review Nutter’s medical problems.
Nutter had a hernia repaired in 1992, but a portion of her digestive tract created a dangerous pocket under her skin that could have become infected. She also had peritonitis, an inflammation of the peritoneum, the tissue that lines the wall of the abdomen and covers the abdominal organs. Dr. Graham said that she had more than 800 milliliters of fluid inside her, or about 27 ounces. She also had gangrene inside her body.
In 1995, Nutter, who was 5 feet 6 inches tall, at one time weighed 250 pounds.
“She was morbidly obese,” Dr. Graham said.
When she died, she weighed 115 pounds and was “very thin,” according to the coroner.
She had ulcers on her body from not being moved, 150 bug bites and a urinary-tract infection. She was missing a number of teeth, and “some in her mouth were decaying,” Dr. Graham said.
Nutter had one toenail that was 2 inches long.
“It would take a couple of years to grow that long,” the coroner said.
Jackson told Judge C. Ashley Pike her mother had the long toenail “for as long as I can remember.”
Nutter was found naked on a mattress that had rotted in the middle because of feces and urine.
Dr. Graham said he and Nutter both were born in 1936.
He said, “I see no reason she should not be alive today.”
wilkinson@vindy.com