State v. Stubbs

In March 1993, Colorado resident Janie Knickerbocker visited her elderly uncle Dale Edmisten in Nebraska. Knickerbocker observed that Edmisten could recall the past clearly but had some difficulty understanding the present. He also had some trouble moving. Knickerbocker obtained a power of attorney to manage Edmisten’s health and affairs. She believed Edmisten should no longer be living alone but decided to delay moving him to a nursing home until May. She returned home to Colorado in the meantime, and Edmisten continued to live alone, cooking his own meals, dressing himself, bathing himself, and paying his bills. That spring, Rick Stubbs (defendant) visited Edmisten multiple times to purchase various items. After Stubbs left, Edmisten would notice that other items were missing from his home. When Knickerbocker returned to Edmisten’s home in May, she too noticed that various items present in March were now missing, including an Indian war ax, a set of antique dressers, a rifle, and a tractor. She filed a complaint with the local sheriff’s department, and the investigation resulted in Stubbs being charged with knowing and intentional abuse of a vulnerable adult by exploitation. At Stubbs’s trial, one of the contested issues was whether Edmisten qualified as a vulnerable adult. Several of Edmisten’s neighbors testified that he had some mobility issues and sometimes had trouble remembering things. A doctor who assessed Edmisten testified that he was mildly senile and had some balance issues but was otherwise normal and active for his age, if lacking full awareness of the consequences of his actions. The doctor testified that Edmisten should likely be considered a vulnerable adult. The jury agreed, finding that Edmisten suffered from a substantial functional impairment and was therefore a vulnerable adult. It convicted Stubbs. The state appeals court reversed, finding that Edmisten did not suffer from a substantial functional impairment and Stubbs’s conviction was therefore improper. The state appealed.