Overview

• A Travis County grand jury this week charged Harvest Renaissance–Austin, LLC and former leaders Mendi Ramsay and Rochelle Alvarado with injury to an elderly person.
• The indictment says staff did not move Pierce to a readily available warmer area and found her with windows open before she was hospitalized and later died of hypothermia.
• Prosecutors also allege the facility did not notify the Texas Health and Human Services Commission that it had lost power during Winter Storm Uri.
• Defense lawyer Sam Bassett says no crime occurred, describes extraordinary measures by staff, and says his clients will plead not guilty, with court appearances expected this week.
• Pierce’s family continues a wrongful-death lawsuit and says they were not told about the outage or any lack of backup power at the residence.