An Ohio jury on Wednesday found Dr. William Husel, who had been accused of giving patients lethal doses of fentanyl, not guilty of 14 counts of murder, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper reported.
Husel, a former doctor with the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System, was accused in Franklin County of purposely causing the death of 14 patients between 2015 and 2018. He faced 15 years to life in prison for each count.
The jury, which initially could not come to an agreement, deliberated for a week after the seven-week trial ended.
Husel’s defense attorneys argued that the doses of fentanyl—a potent painkiller—that he administered to patients was intended to comfort them and that death for critically ill patients was imminent, the Dispatch reported.
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