The New Orleans-area nursing home couple accused of causing the deaths of 35 residents following Hurricane Katrina are scheduled to go on trial today. The trial occurs just two weeks shy of the second anniversary of the storm.
Salvador and Mabel Mangano, owners of St. Rita’s Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish, have pleaded innocent to 35 counts of negligent homicide and 26 counts of cruelty to the infirm in connection with failing to evacuate the facility prior to the storm. The trial will be held in St. Francisville, 30 miles north of Baton Rouge.
The defense will likely try to blame the deaths on federal, state and federal governments, and the botched official response to the storm. The prosecution witness list includes 23 relatives of those who died or suffered injuries.
