Judge upholds acquittal in 9 hurricane nursing home deaths

By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida judge has upheld his acquittal of a nursing home administrator who had been charged with the overheating deaths of nine patients after 2017’s Hurricane Irma knocked out the facility’s air conditioning. Circuit Judge John J. Murphy III spent Monday morning listening impassively as prosecutor Charles Morton made his case for reconsideration But after about an hour of deliberation upheld his Friday decision to acquit Jorge Carballo of manslaughter even before the three-week trial reached the jury. He said that a reconsideration would violate Carballo’s rights against double jeopardy. Still, he said he doesn’t believe prosecutors proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt.