Mistrial declared in case of lawyer accused in father's death

A judge declared a mistrial late Wednesday night after jurors said they could not reach a unanimous verdict in the trial of a Chester County lawyer accused of killing his 92-year-old father by withholding medical care.

Edward J. O'Brien III, 60, a lawyer from West Whiteland Township, was charged with third-degree murder, aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless endangerment in the 2013 death of his father, Edward J. Jr.

Jurors began deliberating Wednesday afternoon and continued for more than eight hours before declaring an impasse.

Addition: Lawyers from both sides are not able to comment on the case, according to a gag order the judge kept in place Wednesday. She instituted the order because of improper statements Tom Hogan, Chester County's district attorney, and O'Brien's defense attorney made to reporters about the case.

On Sept. 8, 2013, after the son dialed 911, police came to his home and found his father, a World War II veteran, dead. The older man had bed sores on his body. and there were feces on his bed and furniture.

A former resident of Collingswood, he had been living with his son because doctors said he could no longer live by himself and needed constant care.

Defense attorney Joseph Patrick Green said the elder O'Brien sometimes chose not to take his medication, and told his son he did not want to stay at a medical facility or nursing home.

"Ed tried to honor his father and his wishes," Green told jurors at the Chester County Justice Center in West Chester. "We're here to honor him, not blame him."

For nearly two hours, Green argued that the elderly man had rejected pleas for nurse visits and to honor doctor appointments, but that the son took care of his father the best he could during the two years they lived together. At one point, he cut back to part-time work so he could care for his father.

Assistant District Attorney Ronald Yen, who also argued for two hours, said O'Brien failed to get his father, who had congestive heart failure, the care he needed and showed disregard for his father's life.

"He should still be alive today had he been properly cared for," Yen said.

Yen said the defendant took in the father, a retired U.S. Postal Service employee, and took his pension payments of more than $2,800 monthly for his own use. Yen said O'Brien gave his father checks to sign to pay taxes on the Collingswood house his father had given him.

Yen said the elder O'Brien had a history of taking care of himself and would not have refused medical care. He said O'Brien rejected medical personnel who visited in attempts to care for his father.

Yen showed excerpts of O'Brien's interview with a detective the day his father died in which he did not mention that his father repeatedly refused care. O'Brien told police that day that his father could not afford medical care.

mbond@phillynews.com610-313-8207@MichaelleBond