Fired mental hospital worker pleads

GOLDSBORO -- A former employee of a state mental hospital pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report abuse.

Eric Jerrod Isler was one of three Cherry Hospital employees state prosecutors charged with felony assault related to the severe beating of patient Dean G. Smith.

Another defendant, James A. Smith, was acquitted at trial by a Wayne County jury earlier this month. The trial of Billy Gerald Wynn Jr., whom prosecutors havedescribed as the main defendant, is scheduled for May 24.

The N.C. Attorney General's Office took responsibility for the case after the local district attorney initially dropped all charges against the three state workers, who lost their jobs at the hospital after the 2006 incident.

The beating left Dean Smith bloodied and so bruised the imprint of the tread on an employee's tennis shoe was left clearly visible in his flesh. His ordeal at Cherry was detailed in The News & Observer series "Mental Disorder: The Failure of Reform."