BEAUMONT, Texas — A Jefferson County jury sentenced a Port Arthur man to life in prison on Friday in connection with the 2020 death of his 75-year-old mother.
Alan Roy Hartzel, 50, was found guilty, Thursday, of "injury to an elderly person." He was accused of neglecting his mother which lead to her death.
Judge John Stevens presided over the trial which began with jury selection on Monday, April 29, 2024.
Hartzel was arrested on February 21, 2020, in connection with the death of Jean Gordan Hartzel, his mother, according to jail records.
He had faced from five to 99 years or life in prison and fine up to $10,000.
The punishment phase of the trial will begin Friday, May 3.
Trial Day 2
The prosecution continued presenting its case on Wednesday calling a Port Arthur Police officer, who was at the home when Hartzel's mother was found, as its first witness.
Prosecutor Jimmy Hamm also played the officer's bodycam video for jurors and described it as the jury watched.
The officer testified that what she saw at the home was one of the worst scenarios she had ever seen while working as a police officer.
During cross-examination, defense attorney James Makin asked if she had ever met the defendant and she said she had not.
He also asked if she knew of any end-of-life wishes Mrs. Hartzel may have had or if she had a do-not-resuscitate order.
She said she did not know of any such arrangements and also testified that she did not know of any agreements Hartzel and his mother may have had about living conditions.
When asked by Makin if Hartzel was cooperative at the home she said he had been.
Trial Day 1
Hamm began his opening statement by telling the jury he had a dozen potential witnesses.
Hamm described for jurors how the 75-year-old woman lived in what some might refer to as as a "hoarder" house and that fire department medics were told by the her son that, "she was not feeling well."
When medics went to the woman's bedroom, they could tell by the smell that something was wrong and described how flies came from the victim as they pulled back a sheet, Hamm told jurors.
"This disturbs them so much that they backed off because it was not what they expected," he told jurors on Tuesday.
In his opening statement, Makin told jurors he agrees with prosecutors that they need to consider what "brought us to this point."
"I'm going to show you through testimony that this is why," he said before a long pause.
"The strong love between a son and a woman who raised him," he went on to say as his voice broke.
He told the jury that Hartzel was doing his best to fulfil his mother's wishes of staying at home.
In February 2020, Port Arthur Police officers and medic were sent to a home in the 2900 block of 5th Street and when they arrived they found that the 75-year-old woman “signs of severe neglect,” according to a previous news release from the Port Arthur Police Department.
Medical personnel at the home described her as being in poor health and a condition as if she had not been cared for properly, according to a probable cause affidavit.
She was described in the affidavit as living in a "very poor living condition".
A neighbor told investigators that she had not seen her in several months and that Hartzel, who is the only other person that lives with her, refused to let her in the residence to see her, according to the affidavit.
She was taken by ambulance to a Southeast Texas hospital where she was pronounced dead, the previous release said.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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