Murder Case at Senior Facility Sparks Negligence Litigation

A Maryland murder case involves a suspect ruled not competent to stand trial and a civil negligence lawsuit against a suburban Washington, D.C., senior living center that asserts the crime could have been prevented.

Robert Gorham Fuller Jr., 87, was shot and killed on Feb. 14 at Cogir of Potomac in Potomac, Maryland. Fuller was a retired Navy Reserve officer, an attorney, and a millionaire philanthropist in Augusta, Maine, largely responsible for funding a new hospital, a new YMCA center, and the expansion of a high school there, according to news reports. He had reportedly moved to Maryland to be closer to family members.

Last week, a Maryland judge determined the suspect, Maurquise Emillo James, 22, was not competent to stand trial in the case. James was also charged in February with attempted first-degree murder for shooting at a state trooper in a traffic stop in Baltimore. Police believed the same gun was used in the Fuller shooting after recovering one of the bullet casings, Montgomery Community Media reported.

The judge ordered that James be placed in a psychiatric facility under the Maryland Department of Health until his next evaluation on Nov. 9, WTOP News reported.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Karla Smith said, based on his evaluation, “James at this point is not competent to proceed to trial.” The judge determined he “presents a danger to himself, to others, to the property of others. And based on that, the court will have him committed to work on competency.”

After the Fuller shooting and before the incident with the police officer, James reportedly continued working at the senior facility for several days.

The Montgomery County Attorney’s Office, which oversees prosecutions in the area, did not respond to the Daily Signal for this story by the time of publication.

A charging document said James administered Fuller’s medication to him the night before the killing, which police allege James committed, the Baltimore Sun reported.

A nurse at Cogir Potomac warned the senior living center in a written complaint 11 days before the homicide about unusual behavior by James, according to a negligence lawsuit filed by Linda Buttrick, who lived with Fuller.

The nurse was not identified by name in the lawsuit filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court on March 19. But the lawsuit said another employee made similar verbal warnings about James. The case was filed in Baltimore County, because Cogir operates in Baltimore and James lives there.

Buttrick’s attorney, Michael Belsky, said at this point he and his client are just waiting for a response from the defendants.

“We are continuing to move forward with the civil case and investigate the matter,” Belsky told The Daily Signal.

The facility in Maryland referred the Daily Signal to Cogir spokeswoman Heidi Brashear, with the Arizona-based parent corporation. Brashear did not respond to the Daily Signal for this story by publication time.

However, a spokesperson for the company told the Portland Press Herald that the well-being of residents is the company’s highest priority.

The Cogir spokesperson added, “We take all concerns raised by staff, residents and residents’ families seriously, and have clear processes to ensure every report is thoroughly reviewed and addressed.”

The lawsuit alleges the death was “entirely preventable,” and also names James as a defendant.

The lawsuit says that James’s mother is Cogir Health and Wellness Director Shenise James-Dubose.

The civil complaint says that Buttrick identified James as a suspect in the Fuller murder. According to the lawsuit, James continued to enter her apartment after the death of Fuller to dispense medication to Buttrick, the Portland Press Herald reported.

“Ms. Buttrick, a woman with Parkinson’s disease who had just discovered her partner’s body, was required to receive medications from the hands of the man she had identified to police as a suspect, alone in her home, which was still a crime scene, with zero protection and no recourse,” the lawsuit says.