Kristen Gilbert Trial: 2000-01

A grand jury indicted Gilbert on November 18, 1998, and an extended series of motions and hearings and appeals followed. Multiple charges of murder would have been fought by any defense lawyers, but what gave this particular case its special edge—and high profile in the media—was the fact that the federal government had chosen to go for a first-degree murder conviction that carried the possibility of the death penalty. (It was a federal case because the alleged crimes occurred on federal property.) In any jurisdiction, this would have caused some comment, but in Massachusetts, it was the occasion for special controversy: Massachusetts did not have the death penalty (and had not executed anyone since 1946). Even among those who believed Gilbert guilty, many felt that, if she had done what she was charged with doing, she was a seriously disturbed individual. In fact, in 1998 she had been found guilty in a related case—namely, telephoning bomb threats to the VA hospital—which to some suggested that she was at the very least an unbalanced person.

Kristen Gilbert, a nurse at Veterans Administration Hospital, charged with killing patients at the hospital. (AP/Wide World Photos)