A involuntary manslaughter charge against a Costa Mesa man accused of leaving his 80-year-old mother on a bathroom floor for two days was dismissed Friday due to the defendant’s recent death, a prosecutor said.
A felony charge of inflicting injury on an elder adult was also dismissed against 49-year-old Robert Dickerman, who died from liver disease from chronic drinking, Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said.
Yoshiko Dickerman died of sepsis July 4, 2012 at Orange Coast Memorial Hospital, where she was brought after being found on the floor of her bathroom in her home at 938 Azalea Drive about 2:20 a.m. the day before, Costa Mesa police Sgt. Ed Everett said at the time of Dickerman’s arrest in September 2013.
Dickerman told police, who arrived at the house on the report of a combative woman, he was his mother’s sole caretaker, and she was injured when she fell off a toilet two day before. He told police he tried to help her up, but she was angry and refused his help, Everett said, adding that Dickerman said he left her there.
Police found the woman still on the floor in a puddle of urine, he said.
Dickerman was unemployed and had been caring for his mother since 2001, Everett said. He called the home “extremely dirty” and “cluttered,” and said Dickerman told police he did not have time for cleaning.
— City News Service