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Families Hopes Ohio Slaying Brings Changes

Posted on: Saturday, 8 April 2006, 03:13 CDT

By LISA CORNWELL

HAMILTON, Ohio - Edward "Teddy" Shuman had been charged with brutally beating and strangling his autistic and severely retarded roommate. But when he came into the courtroom to face a judge, he wore a smile that widened when he spotted his parents, and turned to wave at them.

A judge later said that Shuman was incompetent to stand trial, because the 20-year-old had no understanding of what had happened.

Shuman, who also is mentally retarded and suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, was charged with murdering his 50-year-old roommate, Joseph Beaudoin, on Feb. 21 at a private center for mentally retarded and developmentally disabled adults.

The two families hope the death will increase public awareness of problems faced by people such as Shuman and Beaudoin and the difficulties families face in getting them appropriate care and treatment.

"People with mental retardation and fetal alcohol syndrome do not get better," said Beaudoin's sister, Tina Borich, of Burlington, Ky. "I'm not mad at Teddy. I'm angry because the system failed him and my brother."

Many states are grappling with the issue of how best to care for people like Shuman who have developmental disabilities combined with behavior disorders, said Robert Gettings, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Services.

A probate court is charged with determining a plan for Shuman's long-term care in a state-run institution. Authorities say the placement likely will be permanent because of his mental retardation and problems such as explosive behavior disorder. He has the emotional capacity of a 5-year-old.

Shuman had been admitted five days before the slaying to Fairfield Center, about 15 miles north of Cincinnati. Authorities said he used a belt to strangle Beaudoin and held him to the floor with his foot.

Borich says there are too few safe facilities for those like Teddy and her brother, and some facilities have inadequate staffing and employees who lack enough training to handle aggressive or violent residents.

The state has ordered Fairfield Center to provide plans for correcting problems such as inadequate safeguards to protect Beaudoin and insufficient monitoring of Shuman and Beaudoin, both of whom had histories of aggressive behavior.

Shuman had been adopted by his parents, Thom and Bonnie, when he was 18 months old. They were told that he had been physically and sexually abused and would probably have some mild developmental delays.

When he was 7, he started having the violent outbursts that resulted in his first placement in a psychiatric unit. He probably has spent 75 percent or 80 percent of the past 13 years of his life having to move in and out of residential centers, group homes and hospital psychiatric units.

The Shumans had wanted their son to remain at a state-run center, but said they were told he was well enough to go to a less restrictive environment.

"We've found that the choices and freedom of less restrictive environments such as private centers or group homes just put too much pressure on Teddy," Thom Shuman said.

Robert Jennings, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, said the department is trying to find the best ways to serve special needs populations but believes its centers mainly should provide temporary assistance until individuals can move to less restrictive environments.

Fairfield Center responded to calls seeking comment with a statement from its attorneys saying that the center was cooperating fully with all state investigations into circumstances surrounding the death.

Cheryl Phipps, superintendent of the Hamilton County MRDD, said "the Teddys of the world" should be allowed to remain in the state centers where they can receive close supervision.

"Many people can be served quite well in private centers and group homes in the community, but people like Teddy need extra care," Phipps said. "They are the ones who are falling through the cracks."

Beaudoin, who had been at the Fairfield Center for 20 years, had not been able to live at home since he showed aggressive tendencies at age 6.

"Poor Joe-Joe never got a chance to live a normal life and spent most of his life in an institution," Borich said. "Then he dies this way. The system that allowed this to happen should be held accountable."

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On the Net:

National Association of State Directors of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Services: http://www.nasddds.org

Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities: http://www.odmrdd.state.oh.us/

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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