Rita Mays, a nurse in the United States known by the nickname “Angel of Death”, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of seven elderly veterans.
A US nurse was sentenced today to life in prison for the murder of seven veterans, to whom she deliberately administered lethal doses of insulin.
Rita Mays, 46, pleaded guilty last July to seven counts of manslaughter and one attempted murder, avoiding a trial and an investigation into about ten other suspected deaths.
Today, Mays was confronted for the first time with the relatives of her victims, in the hearing process for the announcement of her sentence. “I’m sorry for the pain I caused,” she said simply, weeping uncontrollably, without giving any explanation for her actions.
Her lawyer hinted that his client was “not thinking clearly” because she was experiencing psychological problems, such as post-traumatic stress, linked to an earlier mission to Iraq. Added to this was the stress of her job as a night nurse at a veterans’ hospital in West Virginia.
However, according to the APE-MPE, Judge Thomas Kli assessed that “there is no explanation and certainly no excuse” for the crimes he committed and sentenced her to life without suspension of sentence.
“The country owes you a lot,” the judge told veterans, some of whom had fought in World War II.
Rita Mays admitted that from July 2017 to June 2018 she administered insulin to eight men, aged 81 to 96, without the need for it. This hormone is necessary for the treatment of diabetes, but it can be dangerous if one does not suffer from this condition, because it can lower blood glucose levels and cause coma or even death.
The deaths were initially thought to be due to pathological causes, but a doctor eventually sounded the alarm. Authorities launched an investigation and exhumed some of the victims for an autopsy-necropsy.
The widow of one of the veterans told the court she was shocked to see the word “homicide” written on the death certificate of her husband, George Shaw. “I did not know why he did this, we will probably never know, but he took my life,” said Norma Shaw.
