Court Throws Out Felony Conviction for Man Who Didn't Change Son's Diaper for 14 Hours

A man who served more than two years for felony criminal mistreatment for not changing his son's diapers for more than 14 hours, found out Wednesday his conviction on those charges had been overturned.

The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled there was not enough evidence to convict James Hickey on those charges.

The court, though, did uphold his conviction on two misdemeanor charges of child neglect.

Hickey's son, who has autism, is not toilet-trained.

He had put his kids to sleep around 7:30 at night.

He then checked on them around 3:30 and, after cracking the window in their room, locked the door to the bedroom,.

Hickey was awoken at 10:30 the next morning by deputies who had been called by people who found the children on the street.

"He stated that the boys usually get up around 7:30 a.m.," the judges wrote. "He explained that the boys make so much noise when they wake up that no one else in the house is able to sleep. So, because he had not yet heard them, he had assumed they were still sleeping."

It turns out that they had crawled out the window.

The judges said that while Hickey did fail to change his son's diaper in a timely fashion, there was no proof that he "withheld 'necessary and adequate physical care."