Two days have been scheduled for the sentencing of a former veterans hospital aide who pleaded guilty in the deaths of eight patients, but lawyers say they will need much less time than that.
Lawyers agreed they will need only a few hours to state their positions during the sentencing of Reta Mays, which begins May 11 in Clarksburg.
Her defense is working to present mitigating factors in the case. Federal prosecutors intend to call family members of the victims to the witness stand.
“We see no reason why it would go past noon on one day,” said Jarod Douglas, representing the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Jay McCamic, a lawyer for Mays, agreed.
“I think Mr. Douglas’s estimation is probably pretty close,” McCamic said.
During a Monday afternoon status conference conducted over video streaming, federal Judge Thomas Kleeh indicated there is enough time available to be flexible.
“We’ll start at 9 a.m. May 11 and go as we go,” Kleeh said.
Mays faces consecutive life terms for seven murder counts and another 20 years for a count of assault with attempt to murder. For now, she has been taken to West Virginia’s Northern Regional Jail.
Mays, 46, of Harrison County, entered a guilty plea last July 14 to seven counts of murder and another count of assault with attempt to murder. Prosecutors said the last charge was because the victim lived for a period of time and Mays’ actions could not be determined to be the exact cause when the veteran died weeks later.
Mays began working at the Louis A Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg in June 2015. She was removed from her job in July 2018.
She worked the night shift, 7:30 p.m. to 8 a.m. in Ward 3A, which housed fragile patients who were not well enough to be discharged but whose conditions did not require the intensive care unit.
Her job as a nursing assistant required her to measure patients’ vital signs, test blood glucose levels and sit one-on-one with patients who required observation.
Autopsies on exhumed bodies have pointed to insulin injections that weren’t needed. The veterans died of low blood sugar level — severe hypoglycemia — caused by the insulin shots.
She admitted to killing veterans Robert Edge Sr., Robert Kozul, Archie Edgell, George Shaw, a patient identified only as W.A.H., Felix McDermott and Raymond Golden. She is also accused of administering insulin to “R.R.P.,” another patient who was not diabetic, with intent to kill him.
The charges and plea followed a two-year investigation that began after the VA Medical Center reported several suspicious deaths. Mays had access to the veterans’ hospital rooms. She wasn’t supposed to have access to insulin.
Although Mays has pleaded guilty, she has never publicly described any motive.
Her defense attorneys in a previous status hearing were focused on gathering records about Mays’ mental health dating back to her 2003 deployment to Iraq, where she was a chemical equipment repairer with the West Virginia National Guard’s 1092nd Engineer Battalion.
Prosecutors said they may present short testimony from as many as a dozen family members who are grieving the deaths that Mays is accused of causing.
Douglas said those witnesses are likely to speak for about five minutes each. Many are likely to appear in person, he said, although a few may use video streaming.
Kleeh had set aside both May 11 and May 12 for the sentencing if necessary.
“We’ve got two full days blocked off if necessary,” he said. “We don’t have to fill two days of course, but we have that time set aside.”