The Davis County Attorney's Office has requested that two more bodies be exhumed as it builds its case against Dr. Robert Weitzel, who is scheduled to go on trial in June for the alleged morphine-induced deaths of five elderly patients. Prosecutors allege the deaths, which occurred during a 16-day span between December 1995 and January 1996, were the direct result of morphine overmedication. We're not bound simply because we've had a preliminary hearing.
New evidence comes up all the time.
However, that's exactly what Weitzel, through his attorney Peter Stirba, is asking a judge to prevent. Stirba filed a motion Monday opposing prosecutors' request to exhume the bodies at this stage. Now, at essentially the eve of trial, the county attorney wants to exhume some bodies. Stirba requested to the court that all files related to the case be sealed and that the media be shut out from any future proceedings, citing overwhelming publicity of the case. Although prosecutors did not object, Judge Thomas Kay denied Stirba's request Monday saying that there was no justification and that files and the hearing would remain open.