Joseph Dewey Akin

Overview

Joseph Dewey Akin was a hospital nurse who killed patients.

Akin worked at Cooper Green Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, and was tried in September 1992 for killing Robert J. Price, 32, a quadriplegic, with a lethal dose of lidocaine. Investigators suspected Akin in over one hundred deaths in the area over the past decade in twenty different facilities where he worked, though many of those facilities had thwarted investigations. Akin had long been suspected of causing many Code Blue medical emergencies, both in Alabama and in hospitals around the metro Atlanta area.

A fellow nurse, Marion Albright, testified that she saw Akin walking out of Price's room when she came back from a lunch break, and that she attempted to enter but he had tried to prevent her from doing so. The defense stipulated that the initial cardiac arrest was caused by a blocked ventilation tube, and that the amount of lidocaine found in Akin's body was given to Price when the emergency team was trying to save his life. The defense also pointed to inconsistencies in nurses' testimony and in hospital records, and to the fact that the hospital had originally billed the Price family for the lidocaine, indicating it had been ordered for him.

After just over an hour of deliberation and only two votes, the jury decided that the circumstances warranted a conviction. When the verdict was read, Akin put his hand to his face. One juror later said, "Too many people all placed him at the scene of the crime, and nothing he said to explain it made sense."

On appeal, Akin's conviction was overturned. In a later retrial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial. A retrial was scheduled for March 17, 1998. Two months before it was to begin, Akin pled guilty to manslaughter and received a sentence of fifteen years.

Timeline

• September 1992 — Akin was tried for killing Robert J. Price, 32, with a lethal dose of lidocaine.
• November (year not stated) — A second trial for the killing ended in a hung jury.
• March 17, 1998 — A retrial was scheduled for Akin.
• March 1998 (after plea, year not stated beyond “March 1998”) — Akin pled guilty to manslaughter; he received a sentence of fifteen years.

The offence

In the incident that led to Akin's arrest, the amount of lidocaine found in Robert J. Price's body was twice the lethal dose and four times the therapeutic dose.

Prosecutors contended that Akin injected Price, a paraplegic patient, with a fatal overdose of lidocaine, a local anesthetic and heart medication. They also alleged that Akin got a thrill from listening to the man's heart rate monitor sound an alert and watching hospital workers race to save him.

The defense contended that Price died of natural causes and that the lidocaine was mistakenly administered during efforts to resuscitate him. Akin's lawyer also argued that Price had an alibi for the time the nurse places him in Price's room.

Lidocaine was described as able to induce an irregular heartbeat, and the defense maintained it could have been injected accidentally during attempts to revive him.

Investigation

Investigators suspected Akin in over one hundred deaths in the area over the past decade in twenty different facilities where he worked. Many of those facilities had thwarted investigations.

Akin was linked to Code Blue medical emergencies, including both in Alabama and hospitals around the metro Atlanta area. At one hospital in Georgia, the number of Code Blue emergencies was unusually high while Akin worked there, and colleagues noticed that at least four types of heart drugs had been stolen.

Akin was suspected but never charged in at least 17 suspicious deaths at North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia, where he worked in 1990. An extensive investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Roswell police, as well as medical examiners and prosecutors in several metro counties, did not result in charges in Fulton County or anywhere in Georgia.

Akin was suspected in connection with the allegation that patients had been deliberately injected with drugs that induced heart failure and that Akin allegedly played the hero by rushing in to revive them when they went into "code blue."

The best case against Akin in Alabama involved testimony from a fellow nurse who said she witnessed him coming from a patient's room at the time of a "code blue."

Suspicions about Akin's conduct at North Fulton Regional Hospital began with four of his fellow nurses. They started compiling information on code blues after they noticed that the number of incidents seemed to be rising alarmingly, including some involving patients whose conditions were not life-threatening. They also alleged that some patients were not surviving.

During a six-month period in 1990 when Akin worked at the Roswell hospital, there were 32 "code blues"—20 more than the usual average of two per month. Akin was present at 22 of those events. The cumulative number of episodes was described as nearly triple the norm.

The nurses also discovered that four different drugs that could cause sudden heart failure if injected in a patient were missing from crash carts in the intensive care unit where Akin worked. A search of Akin's Cobb County home by police would later turn up a vial of one of those missing drugs, epinephrine, a drug commonly used to treat bee stings and allergic reactions, which could lead to heart failure if used inappropriately.

On top of circumstantial evidence, allegations were made by Bambi Plumlee. Plumlee had been under Akin's care in 1988 when he worked at Physicians and Surgeons. She reported that she went to the hospital after experiencing what she thought was an allergic reaction to penicillin given to her by her dentist. She said Akin suggested to the emergency room doctor that he give her an injection, and the doctor agreed. She quickly went into cardiac arrest but survived. Plumlee identified Akin, the doctor, and the hospital in a malpractice lawsuit filed more than five months before Akin went to work at North Fulton. She alleged that Akin either "negligently or intentionally" gave her the medication.

A subsequent examination of Plumlee at Emory University Hospital found no underlying heart problems and no explanation for her cardiac arrest other than that she might have taken too much cold medicine. A forensic medical expert who later examined her records concluded that she was likely given epinephrine or a similar drug. Plumlee eventually secured a $750,000 judgment against the hospital. Court files showed that her suit against Akin was dismissed because he wasn't properly served with legal papers before the statute of limitations for malpractice had expired.

Investigators reported that at a large hospital like Grady, which was described as a major trauma center with a high mortality rate, code blues might not be as noticeable as at a smaller suburban hospital like North Fulton.

Arrest and charges

Akin was charged in the 1991 death of Robert J. Price of Birmingham. At the time of Price's death, Price, 32, was a patient at Cooper Green Hospital and Akin was working there as a nurse.

Prosecutors said Akin injected Price, a paraplegic, with a fatal overdose of lidocaine.

Trial

Akin was tried in September 1992 for killing Robert J.

Marion Albright, Price's assigned nurse, testified that when she came back from a lunch break she saw Akin walking out of Price's room. She attempted to enter it to check on her patient but he had tried to prevent her from doing so.

The defense lawyer stipulated that the initial cardiac arrest was caused by a blocked ventilation tube, and that the amount of lidocaine found in Akin's body was given to Price when the emergency team was trying to save his life.

The defense pointed out inconsistencies in nurses' testimony and in hospital records. The defense also pointed to the fact that the hospital had originally billed the Price family for the lidocaine, indicating that it had been ordered for him and, if not, suggesting the hospital had billed falsely.

The jury deliberated for just over an hour and reached a verdict after only two votes.

One juror said, "Too many people all placed him at the scene of the crime, and nothing he said to explain it made sense."

A later jury retrial ended with a deadlock after about three weeks of trial. The judge declared a mistrial after the jury reported it was unable to reach a verdict. Circuit Judge J. Richmond Pearson said Akin would be tried again on March 17, 1998.

Sentencing

Akin's conviction was overturned on appeal, and he was retried. Another retrial was scheduled for March 17, 1998. Two months before it was to begin, Akin pled guilty to manslaughter. He received a sentence of fifteen years in March 1998.

Appeals

Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the 1992 conviction, ruling that the judge erred when he did not dismiss a potential juror who said she thought Akin was guilty.

Outcome

After the conviction was overturned, Akin was retried, and the jury was unable to reach a verdict, prompting a mistrial. Before the scheduled retrial, Akin pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to fifteen years.

Aftermath and related proceedings

Akin was also suspected but never charged in at least 17 suspicious deaths at North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia, where he worked in 1990.

Price's mother, Mary Price, said she was praying that God would give her strength for a third trial. She stated that she had seen Akin convicted for the murder at his first trial in 1992, but that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction.

David Cromwell Johnson, one of Akin's lawyers, said Georgia "turned up no evidence to implicate him and cleared him of any wrongdoing."

Jefferson County Chief Deputy District Attorney Roger Brown challenged Johnson's claim, saying, "That is not what the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) investigator and the deputy DA from Georgia told me," and he declined to give details.

Johnson also said medical examiners from the two Atlanta area counties involved in the investigation gave affidavits saying there was no wrongdoing on Akin's part. Johnson said:

This case is not about medicine. This case is a Salem witch hunt. This case is Joe the serial killer. Joe who has killed so many people and will kill again if we let him out

Akin's attorney later characterized the charges as a "Salem witch hunt" and raised eyebrows after describing a lack of evidence to implicate Akin.

Akin's attorney also said he had copies of affidavits from two metro area medical examiners filed as part of civil lawsuits that he believed exonerated Akin in deaths at North Fulton and other metro hospitals. That characterization was disputed by Clifford Steele, who represented five of Akin's alleged victims in civil suits and spent two years investigating. Steele said:

I think that may be [Johnson's] interpretation and: I don't think there is anything out there that exonerates Joe Akin. Steele also acknowledged that statements in affidavits could address the difficulty of establishing a direct link between Akin and any individual death, but he said that did not amount to exoneration.

Steele said he believed the cumulative weight of the evidence was strong. He said clients and some investigators were frustrated that the Fulton County DA's office would not present the case to a grand jury. Steele said:

We did feel we had shown them enough evidence that they should have made an arrest and: I was extremely disappointed that he wasn't tried here. I felt that a jury would have convicted him.

Ten civil cases filed against Akin in metro Atlanta were settled together. Steele stated that Akin's insurance company put up more than $1 million and North Fulton Hospital contributed a substantial amount. He said the largest amount went to the family of a small Clayton County girl who was left severely brain damaged after a suspicious "code blue."

Akin's saga in metro Atlanta began in 1983 when he was licensed as a nurse by the state of Georgia and spent the next four years working in Atlanta at Grady Memorial Hospital. He later worked at Georgia Baptist Hospital and at the now-defunct Physicians and Surgeons Hospital before becoming a critical care nurse at North Fulton Regional Hospital in June 1990.

Reports described Akin as a dedicated, top-notch nurse who was described as a perfectionist and stickler for detail, thriving in trauma units. Co-workers reportedly detested him, and he had been dismissed from an Alabama hospital years before for failure to get along with his co-workers. It was also said that Akin was openly gay and had once complained of being the target of a homophobic supervisor.

Akin was fired from North Fulton in December 1990 for undisclosed reasons that hospital officials later said were unrelated to the investigation into suspicious deaths. Reports at the time attributed his firing to alleged falsification of his nursing credentials. Akin had previously been fired from both Grady and Georgia Baptist for claiming to have a four-year nursing degree when he actually had a two-year degree.

After leaving North Fulton Regional Hospital, Akin worked for firms that supplied temporary nurses to hospitals. He was put to work at Clayton General Hospital in Clayton County (now Southern Regional Medical Center) and later at Cooper Green Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. At both facilities, Akin was linked to suspicious code blues.

The Alabama murder charges stemmed from the incident at Cooper Green in which Robert Price died.

Akin's lawyer said that at least five medical experts had concluded that Price, described as a paraplegic grievously ill with a terminal disintegration of the central nervous system, died of natural causes. Johnson said he had an alibi for the time the nurse placed Akin in Price's room.

Johnson believed the Price case was a witch hunt motivated by Akin's sexual identity and race. Johnson said:

Joe Akin is a homosexual. And he was a white nurse, working on a floor with mostly black nurses and: This is one of those cases where the ball was rolling downhill and everybody jumped on it.

Regarding claims that Georgia had exonerated Akin, Akin's attorney said he had no specific communication with law enforcement authorities clearing his client. Instead, he said he had copies of affidavits he believed exonerated Akin.

Clifford Steele described a grand jury issue and said the Fulton County DA's office would not present the case to a grand jury.

Code Blue for the Angel of Death? Fulton County reopened investigation into suspicious hospital deaths following Akin's manslaughter conviction in Birmingham, Alabama. It stated that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Pamela Swanson told Topside Loaf that its investigation had been completed and the findings were turned over to the Fulton County district attorney's office, while she said the GBI did not consider the matter closed. She said:

It's not closed until the district attorney tells us it's closed

Back in 1991, the Fulton DA's office decided not to pursue charges against Akin. The material described how cases involving alleged medical serial killers were hard to prosecute, citing that often the perpetrator and victim were the only witnesses and the victim was dead, that patients were often very ill to begin with so deaths were attributed to natural causes, and that drugs found in bodies could be explained away as the result of something other than homicide.

It also stated that after inquiries and a hung jury and a subsequent plea bargain, the DA's office began a new review of the case file. Akin's case in Fulton County was said to be reviewed by a new district attorney, Paul Howard. Howard's spokeswoman, Terry Lawson-Adams, said:

We are investigating the case

Other details

Akin was described as being 35 years old.

Akin was linked to Code Blue medical emergencies at multiple facilities. The material also stated that Akin had been dismissed from an Alabama hospital years before for failure to get along with co-workers.

The material said Akin had a v ia l of epinephrine found in a Cobb County home during a police search.

The homicide charge was tied to Robert J. Price, described both as a quadriplegic and as a paraplegic in different parts of the material, with Price said to be 32 years old at the time of his death.

A jury retrial spanned about three weeks, and deliberations continued after a Friday afternoon deadlock. A Monday replacement of a juror due to illness prompted jurors to start deliberations over.

A second trial ended in a hung jury described as occurring “last November.” A circuit judge named J. Richmond Pearson set the next trial date for March 17, 1998.

It stated that Akin had always maintained his innocence and that he accepted a manslaughter plea agreement and a 15-year sentence. The material also said that having already served six years in prison, Akin could soon be eligible for parole.