A Texas jury sentenced William George Davis to death after injecting male patients’ arteries with air following their open-heart surgeries. The jury spent two hours deliberating, ending up giving the former cardiac ICU unit nurse his sentence.
Former nurse sentenced to death
The jury handed him the death sentence after they decided he had a probability of being a danger to society. Surprisingly, Davis did not speak from the witness stand during his trial, and he also did not show any emotion during his sentence. He did though, cry while hearing a victim impact statement from the widow of a victim.
Davis had worked at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas but was fired in 2018. Surveillance footage caught Davis entering the rooms of patients who were recovering from heart operations. Moments after he left their rooms, the patients’ conditions deteriorated.
Davis enjoyed killing people
One witness who testified was cardiac surgeon Dr. William Turner, who treated three of the patients who Davis killed. He said it was inconceivable that air could have entered the patient’s brain during the surgery.
Prosecutor Chris Gatewood said Davis enjoyed going into the rooms, injecting those patients with air, and watching them die. In one circumstance, he would protect those monitors and wait because he liked seeing them die.
Davis’ defense lawyer claims that his client is innocent and was only charged because he was present when the patient died. The death sentence will be appealed. The jury’s decision comes just a week after they found Davis guilty of capital murder. If the appeal is denied, it will still be a while before he is put to death.
