CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — Charges have been dismissed against a nurse who was accused of intentionally giving a patient a deadly overdose of medicine, the Mecklenburg County district attorney announced Thursday.
A grand jury indicted Sally Hill on murder charges in 2006 in the 2001 death of Sandra Joyner.
Hill was a nurse at the plastic surgery center where Joyner died after a minor plastic surgery operation. At the time, police said Hill had deliberately given Joyner an overdose of painkillers, causing her to go into respiratory arrest.
Investigators had also said Hill and Joyner had been classmates in high school and that there was a rivalry between them. Hill accused Joyner of stealing her boyfriend, police said.
On Thursday, District Attorney Andrew Murray said dismissing the charges was a difficult decision but that he ultimately didn't think his office could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hill's actions killed Joyner.
He laid out several factors, saying there were several possible medical issues that could have led to Joyner's death. Murray also said Joyner's organs were donated and not available for further analysis. In addition, he said, a blood sample was not preserved, so investigators couldn't determine how much of the painkiller was in Joyner's system when she died.
Murray said his office also found holes in the alleged motive.
"In a complete review, I found no credible evidence that showed that there was anything regarding Miss Joyner and Miss Hill during their junior high or high school years concerning a rivalry or animosity or any other issues that would cause somebody many, many years later to have a motive to kill," he said.
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