Former North Star counselor Craig Fisher has been convicted of third-degree felony abuse or neglect of a disabled child in the death of an Arizona youth on a wilderness-therapy expedition.
Fisher will be sentenced Dec. 19 at 10 a.m. in Panguitch before 6th District Judge K.L. McIff. Fisher faces a potential penalty of up to five years in prison.Fisher was the final defendant in the March 31, 1994, death of 16-year-old Aaron Bacon of Phoenix. Five other defendants, including North Star owners William Henry and Lance Jagger, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. They were fined and ordered to do community service. One other defendant entered into a tentative agreement that will allow him to avoid a criminal conviction if he stays out of trouble.
Bacon died of ulcers that erupted in his intestinal tract during several days of hiking, survival-style, in the arid, rugged reaches of the Escalante River canyon country in southern Utah, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors contended Fisher was directly responsible for withholding food and shelter from the youth, which they said contributed to the death.
The eight-member jury returned the verdict Tuesday night after two hours of deliberation.
Sally and Bob Bacon, the youth's parents, said the conviction makes them believe other defendants, particularly the owners, could have been convicted of felony charges.
"They don't tell you about the risk of these programs. The regulations the state puts on the programs are good but are not enough. They don't acknowledge the risk," the father said.
Sally Bacon said, "If Bill Henry and Lance Jagger would have come to me and said `Sally, this is a great program, but there is a 1 percent chance your son could die,' I would not have taken that risk."
Fisher was a field staff member and was in charge of the youth as he was hiking in the desert.
Defense attorney Kent Winward contended that Fisher, who was 19 at the time, was following orders and that he had tried to tell people that the youth was sick and needed to be somewhere else in the program.
He said Fisher had tried a couple of times to do things for the youth, such as calling an EMT in the area to check on him the day before he died. The EMT thought the youth had the flu and said he could be taken to a clinic the following day.
Prosecutors contended Fisher did not like Aaron and thought he was lazy and a faker.
They said that during the 20 days Bacon was in the hiking group supervised by Fisher, the teen had no food for at least eight days. At least two nights he slept without a sleeping bag or blanket and several nights was given only a blanket as temperatures dropped below freezing.
They said Bacon suffered hypothermia, malnutrition, shock and starvation, losing 23 pounds before he died.
The trial was moved to Richfield after McIff agreed with prosecutors that it would be difficult to find an impartial jury in Garfield County.