CANYON CITY There were hugs and tears of relief from relatives for Vanessa Alise Holmstrom and Thomas Hamilton Houpt III after they were acquitted of all charges in the 2011 death of an elderly care home resident.

Judge William D. Cramer Jr. made his ruling Wednesday, Aug. 21, just two days after the start of a trial that was expected to last seven days. Defense attorneys successfully pressed a motion for dismissal of the case, winning full acquittal for their clients.

Holmstrom and Houpt were the managers of the Country Spice residential care facility when a patient, Doris Dorsey, 83, who was suffering from diabetes, dementia and other conditions, went into a steep decline and died in October 2011 at Blue Mountain Hospital.

Defense attorneys J. Robert Moon Jr. and David Glenn said it was an unpreventable death caused by a pre-existing condition, aortic stenosis.

The evidence at trial was conclusive that the alleged victim Doris Dorsey died of natural causes and not the result of anything Tom or Vanessa did or didn’t do, Moon said after the trial. He also correctly concluded that neither Tom or Vanessa withheld necessary medical attention.

In court, Moon said if the couple had been able to reach Dorseys physician to discuss her decline, he likely would have told them to call the family to prepare for her death, not to take her to a hospital to seek treatment.

Calling it a unique prosecution, he told the judge it should be stopped immediately.

Cramer did so, dismissing the case before the defense presented a single witness.

The case began in 2012, when a grand jury indicted the couple on one count each of first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, first-degree criminal mistreatment and second-degree criminal mistreatment. They pleaded innocent to the charges in February 2013.

District Attorney Ryan Joslin, in his opening statement last week, said the pair had not sought medical attention for Dorsey even after caregivers alerted them of her declining condition.

The daughter wasnt called, (nurse) Sam Palmer wasnt called, Dr. (Robert) Holland wasnt called, 911 wasnt called. She wasnt taken to the hospital, he said.

Cramer, however, concurred with the defense that such actions would not have prevented the death.

Cramer said Holland and Dr. Ginger Vaughan, who treated Dorsey in the emergency room, were not aware of the aortic stenosis diagnosis at the time. Records of that diagnosis had not followed Dorsey when she moved to John Day, but surfaced this summer in older medical records as trial preparations were well under way.

Moon said that when his medical experts saw the aortic stenosis diagnosis, they felt it explained all of the symptoms leading to Dorseys death. Vaughan, who received the records from Moon just five days before taking the stand, also testified as to the importance of that diagnosis, and said it would have been good to have that information in 2011.

Making his ruling, Cramer said he was flabbergasted that the care home didnt call for medical attention or alert family members when Dorsey underwent a dramatic change. However, he felt that failure to do so might have been a factor in the death only if the cause had been something other than aortic stenosis.

The judge empathized with the relatives of Dorsey who were in the courtroom.

I know they feel strongly that their mother was not allowed to pass away with dignity, he said.

However, he said the testimony indicated Dorsey had good day-to-day care at Country Spice. While he voiced concerns about administrative issues at Country Spice, he said he didnt see any deprivation of basic needs, food and water.

I know this is hard to hear, he told them, as he issued his verdict.

Joslin said later he was disappointed with the outcome but he respects the process. He said he had felt there was room at least for considering the criminal mistreatment counts, but the judge came to a different conclusion.

He said Dorseys family seemed glad to have closure.

Moon, meanwhile, offered heartfelt condolences to Dorseys family.

From everything I learned about her while working on the case, she was a wonderful mom and role model for others, he said.

He also said hes happy that the trial is over for Holmstrom, Houpt and their relatives, whom he described as wonderful people.

He said the case had a huge impact on the young couple, as they face attorney fees and the loss of their business. Oregon law doesnt allow defendants cleared of criminal charges to recover attorney costs.

Stacie Holmstrom, co-owner of Country Spice and mother of Vanessa Holmstrom, said the family was thrilled the ordeal was over.

“It has been a horrible two years for our family, and we’re very pleased the court was able to see the truth so quickly,” she said.

Country Spice, at 813 S. Canyon Blvd., closed in the fall of 2012 and patients were moved to other facilities. At the time, the home was facing a license revocation by the Department of Human Services, but officials said the licensing action was triggered by noncompliance with state rules and was not precipitated by the death.

Stacie Holmstrom said the facility didn’t close because of the state review, which arose because of paperwork requirements. While she felt they could have met the requirements, they struggled to run the facility without her daughter and Houpt, who couldn’t continue working there due to the pending charges.

“We were tired,” she said, “and couldn’t keep fighting.”