Nurses, Prosecutors Joust Over Post-Katrina Testimony

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina continues to unfold in the courts, where prosecutors have offered to drop second-degree murder charges against two nurses in exchange for their testimony about the deaths of four patients. The motions may be a sign that the case against the nurses is weak, the Times-Picayune reports, and the AP says the nurses will testify.

The nurses and a doctor have been charged with administering a deadly morphine cocktail to four elderly patients before their hospital was evacuated. The nurses fought the order to testify before a grand jury because the immunity grants would apply only to the case at hand—believed to be against the doctor—and not to future evidence prosecutors might develop. (More Hurricane Katrina stories.)