Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A South Florida judge tossed out a case against a nursing home administrator who was charged in the death of nine residents after Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Jorge Carballo, 65, who had been the top administrator at a Hollywood Hills nursing home, was charged with manslaughter after prosecutors said he failed to give adequate directions to his staff at the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center when the air conditioning system lost power.
However, Broward County Judge John Murphy said that the case against Carballo was so weak that no jury could properly convict him.
Electricity to the center's air conditioning system -- but not the rest of the facility -- went out when a fuse became dislodged atop a FP&L transformer pole, when Irma hit in September 2017.
A few days later some residents started showing signs of distress and some died after having body temperatures up to 108 degrees.
Carballo could have faced 15 years in prison if convicted.
