SAN ANTONIO-Elnora Breed, at 88, was a strong-willed woman who went to church every Sunday in Texas City, washed her clothes every Monday and regularly mowed her own grass with a push mower, Texas Assistant General David Marks says.

But for the last 47 days of her life, Mrs. Breed lay in her own feces and urine, unfed and unmedicated, her flesh rotting from bed sores - all because of the greed of nursing home officials, Marks said Monday in the opening salvo of the landmark corporate murder trial against the nursing home and five current or former employees.

Autumn Hills Convalescent Centers Inc., a Houston-based firm with 17 nursing homes, is charged with murder in the 1978 death of Mrs. Breed.  The trial was moved away from Galveston due to extensive publicity.

Also charged with murder are Robert Gay: president;  Ron Pohlmeyer, vice president;  Mattie Locke, nursing director; Virginia Wilson, administrator of the Texas City nursing home and Cassandra Canlas, head nurse at the Texas City home.

Attorneys for both Autumn Hills and the five current or former employees deferred their opening statements until later.

"Basically, we're going to produce evidence to show that Mrs. Breed died of cancer and not as a result of any lack of nursing care," said defense attorney Roy Minton.

Monday, Ruth Linscomb, 83, Mrs. Breed's sister, took the stand for prosecution and testified that during 40 to 60 visits she made to the Autumn Hills nursing home in Texas City, she noticed that her sister's bed was constantly soiled with human waste and that she never saw the staff give the patient food or water.

"She had a big bed sore on her right hip," Mrs. Linscomb said.  "It was about the size of my palm and there was pus in it.  It was awful."

But during cross-examination by defense, Mrs. Linscomb repeatedly had difficulty remembering facts about her (Mrs. Breed's) illnesses, hospitalizations and death.

Marks said the state's evidence will show that Mrs. Breed had been operated on for cancer in 1961, 1967 and 1976.  She also suffered a stroke and a broken hip in 1976, which lead eventually to her being sent to Autumn Hills home in Texas City.

"It will also show that she was cheerful and alert and that she was not a vegetable," Marks said.  "Her own doctor's records will show that she was recovering and improved only eight days before she was admitted to Autumn Hills on Oct. 4, 1978."

Marks said that the law requires nursing homes to provide adequate and trained staff to provide the ill and elderly with the same basic human care as would be given a baby.

"Yet what happened to Elnora Breed?"  Marks asked.  "For the first day and a half after she entered Autumn Hills, she was given no food, water or medication.  She was allowed to lay, day and night, in her own urine and feces.  The nurses and aides did nothing for her. "She was allowed to exist this way for 47 days, her flesh rotting from sores so deep the bone was visible," Marks said.  "And then she died.  If a normal person was subjected to this, it would have killed them, too."

Marks said that the five defendants, all officers of the corporation, then committed wholesale falsification of records to show that care was provided when it was not.

"These leaders were aware of what was happening to patients and failed to respond and correct problems," Marks said.  "Mr. Gay, the president and Mr. Pohlmeyer, the vice-president, formulated a financial policy of maximizing profits with the virtual disregard for patients."

Marks said evidence would show that the corporation was $8 million in debt when Mrs. Breed entered the nursing home and that $600,000 had been taken by Gay for his personal use during 1978.

"The evidence will show that what was happening to Elnora Breed was symptomatic of what happened to other helpless patients," Marks said. "Autumn Hills was an epidemic of rotting flesh, neglect and abandonment of patients.  And greed was the glue that held it together."

Testimony continues Tuesday.