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Judge: Katrina Death Reports Are Public

Posted on: Saturday, 20 October 2007, 00:00 CDT

By MARY FOSTER

NEW ORLEANS - The coroner's reports on the deaths of nine patients trapped in a sweltering hospital in the days following Hurricane Katrina should be made public, a judge ruled Friday.

Chief Civil Court Judge Nadine Ramsey ruled in favor of The Times-Picayune, which had sued Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard for the reports. Ramsey gave Minyard until Monday to release them.

Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti conducted a criminal investigation into the deaths, leading to charges of second-degree murder against Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, who stayed to work at the flooded hospital during and after the Aug. 29, 2005 storm.

Foti accused Pou and the nurses of killing patients by overdosing them with a sedative-painkiller mix during the days after Katrina, when Memorial Medical Center and other hospitals had no power and no way to evacuate.

All three women denied the accusations.

A grand jury refused to indict Pou, a decision Foti criticized. Landry and Budo testified before the panel under immunity.

After the grand jury failed to indict Pou, Foti began releasing investigative material. Some legal officials called the action an unusual move aimed at justifying his pursuit of charges against the trio.

"The thing that bothers me is that this material is being made public selectively," Pou's attorney, Richard Simmons, said of Friday's ruling.

Foti is up for re-election Saturday and has had to defend the arrests against political opponents, saying medical experts backed his view.

"This case is between The Times-Picayune and the coroner," said Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for Foti. "Our position is what it's always been. The media requested the release of public records and the defense has been blocking that. We have no objection to the release of anything."

Bill Bradley, an attorney for Minyard, said he had not talked to the coroner and probably would not know before Monday if they would appeal the order to release the reports.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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