Picture Eddie Lee, the 15 year old boy restrained face-down on the ground by counselors for 15-35 minutes on September 18, 2000 with dirt in his nose and mouth but still alive. Then fast forward a few hours later to a hospital in Bend, Oregon, where Eddie Lee is pronounced dead. The victim of a fatal injury to the vertebral artery on the left side of his neck at the base of the skull. An injury so deadly that had it happened at the doors of the hospital, Eddie Lee still would not have survived. Now imagine the Lake County grand jury a couple of months later on November 3, 2000 declining to indict Charles Matthew Sharp, the 22 year old Obsidian Trails counselor charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of William H. Edward Lee. The reason: Not enough evidence was presented in two days of hearings to prove criminal conduct. An opinion that should surprise no one since the grand jury did not hear from a key witness. Someone who surely could have told them what really happened "out there in the wilderness" and whether Sharp acted "appropriately" or not when his actions caused a child to lose his life. The witness? Eddie Lee.
