A Texas doctor accused of tampering with IV bags claims he deserves bail because he shot his neighbor’s dog for barking, not for helping his ex-girlfriend leave him.
Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr., 59, has been held without bond since his arrest in September of last year on charges that he injected heart-stopping poison into intravenous bags at his former medical clinic, causing the death of fellow doctor Melanie Kaspar and cardiac emergencies in 11 other patients.
Texas Judge detains accused doctor for community threat
Federal prosecutors assert that the anesthesiologist committed the heinous crimes at Baylor Scott and White Surgicare North Dallas in retaliation for an investigation into medical misconduct.
A judge ordered Ortiz’s detention after prosecutors argued that he poses a threat to the community, citing, in part, an incident in 2015 in which he shot his neighbor’s dog in retaliation for the woman helping his ex-girlfriend obtain a restraining order against him following a domestic violence incident.
In his most recent bail motion, Ortiz’s defense attorney posited as a possible motive for the shooting longstanding irritation with the dog’s barking.
According to court documents, a witness testified at the 2015 animal cruelty trial that Ortiz had threatened to shoot the neighbor’s dog “hundreds of times” due to the dog’s constant barking.
Read more: Head Start Program: Number Of Programs And Children Served In The United States
Accused doctor faces life in prison
The defense argued that the government had not proven that Ortiz is a threat to public safety because the shooting was not in retaliation for his ex-help girlfriend and the victim “was not a human being.” The poisoning case against Ortiz, the defense continued, is not strong.
Ortiz was sentenced to 29 days in prison in 2016 for shooting the dog in the chest with a pellet gun.
De la Garza dismissed as dishonest the defense’s attempt to minimize the evidence in the poisoning case.
The motion states that Ortiz was caught on video placing contaminated IV bags in the facility’s warmers minutes before patients experienced severe medical emergencies.
Ortiz is an “extraordinary threat to the public” with a troubled personal and professional history, and his scheme “demonstrates remarkably depraved criminal ingenuity,” as stated by de la Garza.
In the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Chief District Judge David Godbey denied Ortiz’s motion for release and set the trial date for September 11.
Ortiz is facing five counts of drug adulteration and five counts of tampering with a consumer product. If he is found guilty, he could receive the death penalty or life in prison.
Read more: Missouri Woman In Her 70s Is Being Arrested On A Third Bank Robbery Charge
