A Livingston County jury has convicted a Deerfield Township couple of child abuse for isolating their adopted son in the family’s basement.
Eric Corcoran and his wife Angela Corcoran were each convicted as charged of second-degree child abuse. They face up to 10 years in prison each when they are sentenced July 28. “I am very pleased with the guilty verdicts handed down by the jury" Monday, Prosecutor William Vailliencourt said. “The acts that these two defendants committed against this child were both cruel and outrageous.
“This was clearly child abuse and I'm grateful that the jury sent a message that such behavior towards children will not be tolerated,” he added. Messages to defense attorneys were not immediately returned Tuesday. During the four-day trial, the Corcoran couple’s adopted son, Justin Corcoran, testified that he wanted a family, but instead he was isolated in the basement of the family’s Bennett Lake Road home between the ages of 13 and 16 because he made lots of noise while playing with toys in the early morning and his eating habits were “repulsive.” During testimony, Justin Corcoran identified himself as having ADHD and borderline personality disorder. Justin Corcoran also testified that he was not allowed upstairs unless someone was home with him and that his bathroom facilities in the basement consisted of the use of a camper toilet.
A former Livingston County sheriff’s deputy testified that he and a state social worker found the camper toilet outside in February 2015 and that it had frozen liquid feces, which also was around the outside of the home.
A social worker with the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services Child Protective Services, testified that Justin Corcoran, who is currently in foster care, was treated very differently than the Corcoran couple’s biological children, who had their own bedrooms with a full bath.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/06/28/jury-couple-guilty-child-abuse-isolating-son/86475180/
For the first time, a 16-year-old boy with emotional issues spoke publicly Thursday of his life locked away inside his Deerfield Township home — a life he said was full of isolation and threats.
The youth recalled a day earlier this year when his sister, armed with a gun, ordered his friend out of the family's Bennett Lake Road home, apparently at their mother's request.
"She said she didn't want another crazy kid at the house," the youth testified during a court hearing.
After the hearing, his parents, Eric Corcoran and Angela "Angie" Corcoran, both 43, were ordered to stand trial on second-degree child abuse charges following Monday's preliminary exam before Livingston District Judge Carol Sue Reader.
Because he lived apart from his family in a locked basement, the youth said he was forced to go to the bathroom outdoors or relieve himself in plastic bottles when others weren't there to unlock the upstairs door.
The youth also said he was excluded from dining with family members, even though his parents, brother and sister tended to dine separately.
Angela Tisch of Child Protective Services, Monday's only other witness, said she found the youth's basement mattress "extremely filthy" during her February investigative visit to the home.
"There was a lot of garbage and debris lying around," she said.
In her ruling, Reader did not refer to the incident involving the gun. However, she said the fact that the boy was housed and fed separately from the family met state probable-cause standards, requiring the couple to be tried.
"There was minimal contact," between parents and child, Reader said. She also noted the youth's testimony that he had to "pee in bottles" and that he was clad in painful, too-small shoes when interviewed by CPS.
The youth testified he used a camper toilet left outside in the snow last winter, when his parents and two siblings were absent.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/05/18/adopted-teen-isolation/27522593/
He said he didn't want to bring it inside because it was full, and he didn't want to spill its contents on the basement floor.
The youth took the stand accompanied by a dog for emotional support and carrying a stuffed Pokemon doll.
During cross-examination by attorneys representing his parents, the youth said he generally had a "good relationship" with his father but a troubled one with his mother.
He also acknowledged making an attempt to kill a family cat.
Attorney Evan Callanan, who is representing Eric Corcoran, said keeping the youth in a secured area protected the family from a troubled son. Callanan added that he intends to explore the youth's behavior more fully at trial.
"There's volumes (of incidents)," he said.
Attorney Mark Scharrer, who is representing Angela Corcoran, indicated his client was primarily responsible for the boy's discipline, potentially straining her relationship with the youth.
He also noted that Angela Corcoran fought hard to get the youth placed in a special-needs program in the Genesee County district where he attends school.
The youth was removed from the couple earlier this year and placed in foster care.
The Corcorans had been his foster parents before adopting him, at age 5, in 2004.
Protective services had twice before investigated the couple, beginning in May 2010, before the February investigation which prompted the charges.
