Status: Incarcerated
Richard Angelo is a serial killer in
the United States. He was active from 1987 . He currently has 4
proven victims, though he is suspected of having 10 victims in total . According to Wikipedia, he was a
Long Island male nurse who poisoned patients in his care. .
This happened primarily in New York. He
was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison .
His appeal includes: Defendant was charged with multiple counts of second degree murder
(depraved indifference murder) and assault in connection with the unauthorized
injection of seven patients with a neuromuscular blocking agent at the
hospital at which he was employed as a nurse, resulting in the deaths of
six of them from respiratory failure. At trial, defendant did not deny
that he had engaged in such conduct, but attempted to demonstrate that
he suffered from a mental illness which precluded him from forming the
mental state required for the charged offenses -- awareness of a grave
risk of death of the patients by reason of his injections. To that end,
defendant presented two psychological experts who testified that he suffered
from a dissociative disorder which prevented him from recognizing, and
thus consciously disregarding, the risks associated with his conduct of
injecting patients with an agent that caused respiratory distress. The
experts testified that defendant had feelings of extreme inadequacy and
sought to create a situation in which he could prove his competence; as
an emergency medical technician he had once successfully resuscitated a
patient in respiratory distress and when overcome by self-doubt in his
responsible position as Charge Nurse, defendant injected patients with
an agent that would cause respiratory distress so that he could then participate
in the successful heroic efforts to save them. His dissociative disorder,
they testified, caused defendant to be unaware that the injections he had
given these patients was the cause of their potential respiratory failure
and ultimate deaths.
Defendant was ultimately convicted of two counts of depraved indifference
murder, one count of second degree manslaughter, one count of criminally
negligent homicide and six counts of assault with respect to five of the
patients and was sentenced accordingly. The Appellate Division affirmed
his conviction and sentence. A Judge of this Court granted defendant leave
to appeal, and we now affirm.
Victims:
His victim include: Gerolamo Cucich, as many as 30 recently deceased patients were exhumed and examined for traces of these powerful paralyzing agents.
You can write to Richard Angelo at:
Richard Angelo 90A2242
Great Meadow Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 51
Comstock, New York 12821-0051
P.O. Box 51
Comstock, New York 12821-0051
