Not all murders are committed with a gun.

Meet Eyvette Hunter, 52, who has been charged with the murder of 97-year-old James Morris at Baptist Health Hospital.

Lexington nurse accused of killing patient makes first court appearance

by Christopher Leach | Friday, September 2, 2022 | 10:12 AM EDT

The Lexington nurse accused of killing a 97-year-old patient via intentional medical maltreatment made her first appearance in court Friday.

Eyvette Hunter, 52, was indicted on one charge of murder and arrested on Aug. 23, according to court records. Police say Hunter’s maltreatment caused the death of James Morris, who died at Baptist Health Lexington on May 5.

Hunter was arraigned in circuit court by Judge Thomas Travis on Friday. During her arraignment, the prosecution brought up a motion it filed earlier this week, which requests permission for the Lexington Police Department to conduct a forensic examination of Hunter’s cellphone. . . . .

Police said Morris’ death was “a direct result” of Hunter’s actions. According to a suspension order by the state Board of Nursing, Hunter allegedly withdrew a vial of lorazepam meant for another patient and injected it into Morris. Once Morris was asleep, Hunter force fed him, which caused him to go into respiratory distress and then to aspirate, according to court documents.

You can read more here.

The Lexington Herald-Leader did not, of course, publish Miss Hunter’s mugshot, which they had, in that reporter Christopher Leach noted in his story that he accessed Fayette County Detention Center records, from which I was able to obtain the mugshot I have used here.

The earlier story noted that Miss Hunter had been a Licensed Practical Nurse since 2007, when she would have been 36 or 37 years old, and then completed more education and became a Registered Nurse in 2018. This story speaks a bit more harshly to me in that my wife is an RN, and it astounds me that an RN would, allegedly I have to add, do something like this.

This was a crime of frustration, as Mr Morris was agitated and aggressive, and Miss Hunter requested medication to calm him down. When that request was not ordered, she allegedly took an order of Lorazepam meant for another patient, administered it to Mr Morris, and then, when he was asleep, and then, again, allegedly, force-fed him, causing aspiration and death by choking. It was also a crime of stupidity.

Think about that: after becoming a registered nurse at age 48, a long and hard climb, Miss Hunter was in a profession which would normally pay more than $40 an hour. She had also worked at the University of Kentucky Hospital as a ‘traveling nurse,’ placed there by Health Carousel Travel Network. Travel nurses can easily be paid more than $75 an hour!

If Miss Hunter administered that Lorazepam as alleged, her license was already toast if discovered. But if she proceeded to kill him via aspiration, she just put her 52-year-old self into jail for the rest of her miserable life.

According to his obituary, Mr Morris was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. He did not deserve this!

Fortunately, we do not have to worry about Fayette County’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn “mediating” her conviction and sentence, as Miss Red Corn has announced that she will retire at the end of this month. We can only hope that Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) will appoint someone to the position who is actually tough on crime.