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Former LPN convicted on six counts of first-degree murder
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10-25-99 Brazil, Ind. Former licensed practical nurse Orville Lynn Majors, 38, was convicted of first-degree murder last week in the deaths of six hospital patients over a 13-month period in the mid-'90s. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on a seventh count. Prosecuters believe Majors is responsible for as many as 130 patient deaths, although evidence supporting this claim was not presented at the trial. Majors, who maintained his innocence, contends the mostly elderly patients died of the ailments that initially brought them to the former Vermillion County Hospital in Clinton, Ind. Family physicians for several of the deceased patients testified as defense witnesses and supported this claim. But prosecutors said the patients showed signs of death by injections of potassium chloride, epinephrine, or both. Vials of both drugs were found in Majors' home and van. Several prosecution witnesses also testified that Majors had been with each of the patients, often alone, shortly before they died. "I don't think this case will have much of an effect on society's view of the nursing profession as a whole, but it will be hurtful to the image of male nurses," said Betsy Fields, an Indianapolis-based independent legal nurse consultant who was involved with the prosecution's investigation. Special Judge Ernest Yelton ruled that evidence linking Majors to the other deaths was inadmissible, saying it would overwhelm the jury and bog down the trial, which ran for six weeks. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, because they said it would cost the county too much. Instead, Majors now faces up to 360 years in prison. Saying only that she was "sickened" by the verdict, defense attorney Carolyn Rader said she plans an appeal.
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