FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Two jurors have been stricken from the manslaughter trial of the former administrator of a nursing home in Hollywood after a court deputy claimed to have overheard them discussing the trial.
The deputy claimed he heard the two jurors discussing the case and the attorneys’ conduct Wednesday morning while they were in the reception area.
Judge John Murphy III, who is presiding over the case, called both jurors into the courtroom, but both denied the deputy’s claims.
The defense team for the defendant, Jorge Carballo, called for a mistrial, but the judge instead chose to dismiss those two jurors and move forward with the remaining six as there were originally two alternates.
After the ruling, Murphy called in each remaining juror individually to reiterate that they are not to discuss the case outside of the trial.
The six remaining jurors then continued to listen to testimony from nursing home expert Terry C. Goodman, who believes Carballo should have stayed at the facility when it lost power to its chiller, disabling the building’s air conditioning.
“I believe the administrator should never leave the building in those instances,” Goodman said. “Where there is an emergency situation that is ongoing, I believe the administrator should never leave the building.”
Carballo is charged with nine counts of aggravated manslaughter following the deaths of 12 patients at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills after the air conditioning went out at the nursing home in the wake of Hurricane Irma in 2017.
A doctor from Memorial Regional Hospital testified Tuesday, saying they would’ve taken the patients from the nursing home if there was an acute need, something the defense doesn’t believe there was in the days prior to an ordered evacuation.