“You are innocent of these charges,” the judge told Brian Nadler. “You are free to go.”
Dr. Brian Nadler was acquitted of four first-degree murder charges, and four charges of criminal negligence causing death, in Ottawa Tuesday.
After Crown attorneys didn’t call any witnesses or evidence at the start of day one of Nadler’s first-degree murder trial, Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips entered an acquittal on all charges.
“You are innocent of these charges,” the judge told Nadler. “You are free to go.”
Nadler was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and criminal negligence causing the deaths of Albert Poidinger, 89; Claire Brière, 80; Lorraine Lalande, 79; and Judith Lungulescu, 93 — all elderly patients at the Hawkesbury & District General Hospital.
Crown attorney Robin Flumerfelt said an earlier ruling from the judge excluded expert evidence, which meant the case had no reasonable prospect of conviction.
Flumerfelt said, under the criminal code, the Crown can’t appeal when charges are withdrawn or stayed, but can appeal an acquittal.
The trial was initially set to commence in June and was scheduled for several weeks, but its start was postponed to early July.
Hawkesbury OPP were first called to the hospital where Nadler worked on March 25, 2021, to investigate Poidinger’s death. Nadler was charged with Poidinger’s death within 24 hours, and at the time, police said the investigation pointed to multiple suspicious deaths at the hospital. Three additional murder charges were laid in 2022. Police said Brière, Lalande and Lungulescu died “on or about” the same date that Poidinger died in 2021.
More to come.