SLAUGHTER, LOUISIANA: On June 19, late Louisiana woman Lacey Ellen Fletcher’s parents, Sheila and Clay, were rearrested and charged over their severely autistic daughter’s death days after the original charges against them were dropped. The couple was initially arrested and indicted on second-degree murder charges after Fletcher’s decomposed body was found “fused” to the sofa in her family's Slaughter home January 3, 2022.

Both Sheila and Clay were accused of neglect and abuse for allegedly leaving their homebound daughter to die on the couch for 12 years. Despite the initial indictment, on May 30, District Judge Kathryn “Betsy” Jones tossed the second-degree murder charges against the pair due to defective language in the charging affidavits. At the time defense attorneys claimed that prosecutors had mistakenly used defective language in the documents for charges of cruelty against elderly people, as per the Daily Mail.

Sheila and Clay Fletcher were bailed out after initial arrest

Following the discovery of Fletcher’s horrific death, her parents Sheila and Clay were indicted of second-degree murder charges on accusations of “acute medical neglect.” Reports revealed that Fletcher, who had severe autism and suffered from social anxiety, did not leave her home for 15 years and were bound to the sofa for 12 years. Her body was covered in feces, urine and maggots, with ulcers and sores on her underside and she reportedly weighed 96 pounds at the time of her death.

East Feliciana Parish Coroner Dr Ewell Bickham attributed Fletcher’s death to “severe medical neglect, which led to chronic malnutrition, acute starvation, immobility, acute ulcer formation, osteomyelitis which is bone infection which led finally to sepsis.” He said that she did not visit a physician since was 16 and nearly “melted” into a hole made on the sofa.

After Sheila and Clay’s indictment, District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla said that he believed “justice was served.” “For this type of crime… second degree is the highest charge that could have been produced today,” he said at the time. “You don’t treat anybody or any animals like that. Something had to be done and we all got together, we all stood on the same platform and we are all here now and we have an indictment for second-degree murder,” D’Aquilla added.

However, Sheila walked out of the East Feliciana Parish Jail in Clinton on May 3, 2022, after posting a $300,000 bond. Meanwhile, her husband, Clay, was released on May 4, 2022. Since then the couple has continued to deny the allegations made against them. They said that Fletcher was able to communicate with them and never complained about her condition.

They also alleged that the 36-year-old developed “some degree of Asperger's syndrome” when she started being home-schooled after 9th grade. During an interview with law enforcement, the parents claimed that their daughter chose to never to leave the couch and to relieve herself on the spot or on a nearby towel. Sheila Fletcher even claimed that she routinely cleaned her daughter’s sores.

Why were the charges against Sheila and Clay Fletcher dropped?

On May 8, Steven Moore, Sheila and Clay’s defense attorney filed a motion to dismiss the second-degree murder indictments against his clients. He argued that the district attorneys officer served documents that were allegedly different from those filed with the local court clerk. Moore claimed that there were six mostly minor, but material, differences between the court papers, as per The Advocate.

“In sum, the indictment in the record is either a substitute or a different indictment returned by the grand jury,” Moore reportedly wrote in the defense motion as per a copy obtained by the publication. He said one of those amendments written by hand, added defective language regarding cruelty to the infirm. The attorney said that the addition was an untoward effort to “create a new crime.”

“The District Attorney seeks to convict the Fletchers of second-degree murder by improperly amending the indictment so the State can attempt to convict by a lesser burden,” Moore allegedly wrote. The court eventually agreed with the defense motion and dropped the second-degree murder charges against Sheila and Clay on May 30. The defendants’ trial was originally set to begin on June 19 before their charges were dropped. However, the Fletchers were rearrested and re-indicted on the same day and likely face life in prison if convicted over the death of their daughter.