JURIST - Paper Chase: Louisiana grand jury indicts nursing home owners for Katrina deaths

[JURIST] A Louisiana grand jury in New Orleans indicted Salvador and Mabel Mangano Wednesday on 35 charges of negligent homicide and 64 charges of cruelty to the infirm from the couple's alleged refusal to evacuate a St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish under a mandatory evacuation order during Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive]. Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti [official website] charged the couple last year [JURIST report] after nearly three dozen elderly and infirm residents drowned [NYT report; victim list, PDF] in the one-story nursing home, overwhelmed by flood waters in only 20 minutes.

Earlier this month, the Manganos sued a number of state and local government officials [JURIST report] arguing that the government should share in liability from 34 lawsuits filed by families of the victims as it did not undertake its own evacuation effort. USA Today has more. The New Orleans Times-Picayune has local coverage.

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