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Worcester family decides to donate beaten boy's organs, police say

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 26, 2009 05:49 PM

By John R. Ellement, Globe staff

The family of a 7-year-old boy who is brain-dead after allegedly being beaten by his father has decided to donate his organs, Worcester police said today.

Nathaniel Turner had been at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and was declared brain-dead Tuesday. Turner's family, led by his mother and grandmother, were given the legal right to end life support by a Juvenile Court judge this week.

Worcester Police Sergeant Kerry Hazelhurst said today that the family was anticipating that the organs would be harvested today. On Thursday, the family asked for privacy and banned UMass Memorial from releasing any information about Turner's status.

"They are going to donate the organs, which is a nice thing out of a tragic thing, to give people a chance to live,'' said Hazelhurst.

The boy's father, Leslie Schuler of Worcester, has been charged with assault and battery, but Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said he expects the Schuler will now be prosecuted for homicide.

Schuler and his girlfriend, Tiffany Hyman, pleaded not guilty in Worcester District Court Tuesday to multiple assault charges. He is being held on $250,000 cash bail and Hyman is being held on $50,000 cash bail.

Hazelhurst confirmed today what Massachusetts Probate and Family Court officials have been saying: Schuler did not have a court order granting him custody of the boy. Instead, the boy's maternal family agreed to let him spend the summer with Schuler, who had had little contact with the boy until this year.

"I don't think there was any formal court order,'' he said. "It was an agreement among family members that the boy would spend the summer with his father in order to develop a relationship. They didn't really know each other prior to that.''