From Military.com:
“Former VA Hospital Employee
Pleads Guilty to Murders of Seven Veterans”
A former nursing assistant at the
Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia,
pleaded guilty Tuesday to the murders of seven veteran patients and an attempt
to kill an eighth at the facility. Reta Mays, 46, worked the night shift at the
medical center's medical surgical award and was accused of injecting seven
patients with fatal doses of insulin, in addition to being charged with
intending to kill an eighth by the same method between 2017 and 2018. She
entered a guilty plea on all eight charges in federal district court and waived
her right to a grand jury trial, affirming with a tearful voice to District
Judge Thomas Kleeh that she was of sound mind in admitting her guilt. Her plea
bargain includes seven life sentences for the murder charges, a 20-year
sentence for the charge of assault with intent to commit murder, and a $500,000
fine. At least 26 family members of the victims were present in the courtroom
Tuesday for the proceedings, which also were broadcast via Zoom. Defense
attorneys requested time before sentencing to "develop mitigating
evidence," meaning they will investigate possible reasons for Mays to have
committed the crimes -- circumstances that might draw a lesser sentence. Mays,
an Army veteran, told the judge she is taking medication for post-traumatic
stress disorder. According to court documents, a doctor at the hospital alerted
supervisors to the suspicious deaths, all of which involved "unexplained
hypoglycemic episodes" in patients with no or minimal history of diabetes.
Mays' job was to take vital signs, including monitoring patients' blood glucose
levels, and to sit with patients overnight. But according to court documents,
she "willfully" and "maliciously" injected insulin into
patients who either did not have diabetes or have an insulin prescription. She
was not authorized to administer insulin. Nor was she a credentialed nursing
assistant. At the time of her hiring, the Clarksburg VA facility did not
require nursing assistants to have a certificate or licensure as a condition of
hiring or continued employment. According to court documents, Mays is a former
West Virginia corrections officer who was eventually fired by the VA for lying
on her resume, saying she was a certified nursing assistant. The rapid
turnaround of the dramatic case follows nearly two years of investigations by
the U.S. Justice Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of
Inspector General, and several lawsuits filed by the families of victims
against the VA. Melanie Proctor, daughter of former Army Sgt. Felix Kirk
McDermott, filed a lawsuit against the VA in March over the death of her
82-year-old father. In April, Norma Shaw, widow of Air Force veteran George
Nelson Shaw, also filed a wrongful death suit, alleging that a "widespread
system of failures" at the hospital contributed to the 81-year-old's
death. In June, the children of John William Hallman, 87, filed a federal
lawsuit seeking unspecified damages for Hallman's June 2018 death. Prosecutors
had said they were investigating up to 11 suspicious deaths at the facility. VA
Secretary Robert Wilkie repeatedly called for the VA Office of Inspector
General to release results of the investigation last year, while Sen. Joe Manchin,
D-West Virginia, pressed for answers from Attorney General William Barr on the
case, saying the delay was tortuous to the families, some of whose loved ones
were exhumed during the investigation. In a statement Tuesday, Manchin said the
charges were overdue but he hoped the announcement would bring "some
semblance of peace to the hearts" of the victims' families, as well as
those "who are still uncertain about the fate of their veterans." "As
a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, I will not stop until we
determine how this could have happened, and ensure it never happens again. Our
veterans deserve world-class care, and their families deserve peace of mind at
every step of the way," Manchin said.According to court documents, the
victims who died, in addition to McDermott, Shaw and Hallman, were:
Navy veteran Robert Edge, 82
Army veteran Robert Kozul, 89
Army veteran Archie Edgell, 84
Army and Air Force veteran
Raymond Golden, 88
The veteran who initially
survived the attack and died two weeks after receiving the injection was a
92-year-old Navy World War II veteran, identified by his initials, R.R.P. Sen.
Shelley Capito, D-West Virginia, called the situation at the Clarksburg VA
"sickening and deeply troubling." "It is unacceptable in any
setting. My heart breaks for the families of these veterans, and I know I speak
for all West Virginians when I say that we are astounded that something like
this could happen," Capito said in a statement. Wesley Walls, chief of
public affairs at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center, pointed out that Mays
had been fired by the VA, and its inspector general investigated the case for
more than two years. "Our hearts go out to those affected by these tragic
deaths," Walls said. "We're glad the Department of Justice stepped in
to push this investigation across the finish line and hopeful our court system
will deliver the justice Clarksburg-area veterans and families deserve."
^ To kill a Veteran that risked
everything to protect us and our country is a disgusting crime in itself. To
have a fellow Veteran kill other Veterans is beyond words. Mays is clearly
mentally disturbed (maybe it is service related and maybe it is not.) Either
way I hope she spends the rest of her life behind bars. ^
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