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No charges in Brown Schools death

Grand jury finds insufficient evidence of criminal responsibility in Chase Moody case

By Mike Ward

Friday, August 29, 2003

A Mason County grand jury has concluded that no criminal charges are warranted in the Oct. 14 death of a Dallas-area teenager at a wilderness camp. 

Mason County officials said Thursday that the grand jurors explained their decision in a one-sentence report: "After considering considerable testimony, we find that there is insufficient evidence of criminal responsibility to charge anyone with the unfortunate death of Mr. Chase Moody on October 14, 2002."

The report was filed Monday, when the grand jury ended its term of service that began two months ago.

Moody, 17, died while being restrained by three employees at the On Track camp, a therapeutic adventure program for struggling youths. An initial autopsy determined Moody died of suffocation, and state investigators later cited the employees involved of physical abuse and neglect.


Dallas attorney Charles Moody holds a basketball
and a portrait of his son Chase Moody. Chase died
at a wilderness camp last October after being
restrained.  More photos

The camp's owner, the Brown Schools, steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and insisted, after completing its own inquiry, that Moody died from becoming so excited and enraged that his heart stopped.

Brown Schools officials closed the camp permanently in January after losing its lease for the 6,000-acre site from the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, which cited contract issues unrelated to the death.

Mason County investigators initially said they intended to ask the grand jury to determine whether the three employees, or even the Brown Schools itself, could or should be held criminally liable.

Howard Falkenberg, an Austin-based spokesman for the Brown Schools, said Thursday that the company "remains saddened by the death of Chase Moody."

Nonetheless, "We're gratified by the fact that Mason County authorities have concluded their investigation without further action," he said.

District Judge Karl Prohl, who oversaw the grand jury, and District Attorney Ronald Sutton were on vacation Thursday and were unavailable for comment.

Chase's father, Charles Moody, a Dallas lawyer who once represented the Brown Schools in a restraint-related death case, was not immediately available for comment.

Link to more pics: http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/photos/specialreports/0518restraint/photo01.html

 

 

 

 

 

 
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