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 1/2-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.
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Finley and Cadigan were summoned to the apartment. The body camera video shows the officers trying to get Moore to his feet to walk out the door for medical assistance, and then placing him in a prone position on the gurney. Cadigan, an emergency medical technician, strapped him in while Finley, a paramedic, put a blanket over him.
Finley later told hospital officials and an investigator that Moore had been combative.
An autopsy revealed that Moore died of “positional asphyxiation” and that he had two broken ribs, which State’s Attorney Dan Wright attributed during Friday’s hearing to Moore’s being strapped in so tightly facedown.
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“There’s no medical reason to transport someone in a prone position,” Wright said.
Referring to the video, Wright continued: “Clearly, Mr. Moore is not combative. He was the complete opposite of combative. He needed help. For them to cover themselves by telling hospital staff that he was combative goes to their credibility.”
“If this goes to trial, the state is going to have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when they placed him on the gurney, that they thought to themselves, ‘I think I’m killing him,’” said Justin Kuehn, one of Cadigan’s attorneys. “Were their acts reckless? That’s for another day.”
As the defendants entered the courtroom, Finley saw seven family members sitting in the front row. She took a seat at the defense table and with tears streaming down her face looked at her family and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
