A judge has dismissed the manslaughter case against the manager of a Hollywood Hills retirement home charged with the deaths of nine residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Broward Judge John Murphy in a ruling on Friday found that Broward State’s Attorney’s case against Jorge Carballo was so weak and lacking in evidence that no jury could adequately convict him, even considering the evidence from the perspective more favorable to prosecutors. .
Carballo was the former administrator of the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center, a two-story, 150-bed facility.
Power to the center’s air conditioning system, but not to the rest of the facility, was cut off when a fuse was dislodged from the pole of an FP&L transformer when Irma struck on September 10, 2017.
Early in the morning of Wednesday, September 13, residents began to show signs of distress and some died, prompting nursing supervisors at the adjacent Memorial Regional Hospital to request an evacuation.
The victims, aged 57 to 99, had a body temperature of up to 108 degrees, paramedics reported.
Carballo was initially charged with 12 deaths, but three cases were dropped.