SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—Two Illinois emergency medical professionals should be tried on first-degree murder charges after a patient they strapped facedown to a stretcher suffocated, a judge ruled Friday.
Peggy Finley and Peter Cadigan are charged in the December death of 35-year-old Earl Moore in Springfield. They pleaded not guilty Friday and are being held in the Sangamon County Jail on $1 million bond each.
If convicted, Finley, 44, and Cadigan, 50, could each face 20 to 60 years in prison. Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow issued her decision following a contentious 3.5-hour preliminary hearing.
Springfield police first responded to Moore’s home around 2 a.m. on Dec. 18. Police body camera video shows that a woman inside the home told an officer that Moore was in withdrawal from alcohol and hallucinating….