NEW ORLEANS, La. – The assistant district attorney dropped charges against Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, two nurses charged with killing four patients at a hospital after Hurricane Katrina.
Last summer, State Attorney General Charles Foti accused Budo and Landry of killing four people at the Memorial Medical Center with a “lethal cocktail” during the aftermath of Katrina. Both nurses, as well as Dr. Anna Pou, were arrested and charged with being principal to second-degree murder. Their convictions would have resulted in mandatory life prison sentences.
Budo and Landry testified before a grand jury last month. Nothing they said could be used against them because by law, such a testimony is secret. Landry’s attorney John DiGiulio does not believe either nurse testified against Pou.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Morales dropped the charges against Landry on June 22 and Budo on June 29.
Charges against Pou have not yet been dropped. Foti says the four patients would have survived if they had not received a lethal mixture of morphine and midazolam hydrochloride, two central nervous system depressants. Pou is currently free on a $100,000 bond.
