NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A New Orleans grand jury tasked with deciding whether to indict a doctor for killing patients after Hurricane Katrina never heard testimony from five experts.
The grand jury, which declined to charge a doctor and two nurses with second degree murder in four deaths, never heard testimony from medical experts who concluded that as many as nine patients were homicide victims, CNN reported Monday.
Some have questioned whether the grand jury was even shown the five experts' written reports.
"They weren't interested in presenting those facts to the grand jury," said Dr. Cyril Wecht, former coroner of Allegheny County, Penn., and a former president of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists.
"The hard scientific facts are those from five leading experts, (the patients died) from massive lethal doses of morphine and Versed. As far as I know the toxicological findings were not presented to the grand jury and certainly not with quantitative analysis," Wecht said.
The office of Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti also questioned why the grand jury never heard the testimony.
"We're perplexed. I think a lot of people are perplexed," said Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for Foti.
