La. Nursing Home Owners Face Cruelty, Homicide Charges

The owners of a nursing home where 35 patients died afterHurricane Katrina were indicted Wednesday on charges of negligenthomicide and cruelty to the infirm.

A St. Bernard Parish grand jury took four hours to return theindictment on 35 counts of negligent homicide and 64 counts ofcruelty to the infirm against Salvador and Mabel Mangano, who werearrested two weeks after the storm, which hit Aug. 29, 2005. Theirnursing home, St. Rita's, is near the rural St. Bernard community ofPoydras.

The Manganos' arrests represented the first major criminalprosecution arising from Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of NewOrleans and virtually wiped out St. Bernard Parish. The Louisianadeath toll was more than 1,500.

The Manganos remain free on bond. They had been arrested on 34counts of negligent homicide, but the grand jury added a 35th countin its indictment, in the death of someone whose body was foundlater. The grand jury also added the cruelty counts. The Manganoswill be formally booked on the cruelty charges on Oct. 4, JudgeJerome Winsberg said.

Since their arrests, the Manganos' attorney, James Cobb, hasasked that a judge name several public officials and agencies as co-defendants in a civil lawsuit pending against St. Rita's. Cobb hasstressed that the facility had not flooded before Katrina and thatthe Manganos thought an evacuation might kill some of their elderlyand frail patients.

La. Nursing Home Owners Face Cruelty, Homicide Charges

The owners of a nursing home where 35 patients died afterHurricane Katrina were indicted Wednesday on charges of negligenthomicide and cruelty to the infirm.

A St. Bernard Parish grand jury took four hours to return theindictment on 35 counts of negligent homicide and 64 counts ofcruelty to the infirm against Salvador and Mabel Mangano, who werearrested two weeks after the storm, which hit Aug. 29, 2005. Theirnursing home, St. Rita's, is near the rural St. Bernard community ofPoydras.

The Manganos' arrests represented the first major criminalprosecution arising from Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of NewOrleans and virtually wiped out St. Bernard Parish. The Louisianadeath toll was more than 1,500.

The Manganos remain free on bond. They had been arrested on 34counts of negligent homicide, but the grand jury added a 35th countin its indictment, in the death of someone whose body was foundlater. The grand jury also added the cruelty counts. The Manganoswill be formally booked on the cruelty charges on Oct. 4, JudgeJerome Winsberg said.

Since their arrests, the Manganos' attorney, James Cobb, hasasked that a judge name several public officials and agencies as co-defendants in a civil lawsuit pending against St. Rita's. Cobb hasstressed that the facility had not flooded before Katrina and thatthe Manganos thought an evacuation might kill some of their elderlyand frail patients.