Arraignment Postponed in Hospital Slayings Case

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge postponed the arraignment Monday of a former respiratory therapist who was indicted in October on six counts of murder and one count of attempted murder involving patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Judge Dan Thomas Oki rescheduled the arraignment of Efren Saldivar to Dec. 5.

Saldivar, a 32-year-old Tujunga resident, pleaded not guilty at a January arraignment on six murder charges brought by the district attorney’s office. Now that prosecutors have obtained a grand jury indictment for the six murder counts and an additional attempted murder count, the original charges are expected to be dropped on Dec. 5, Deputy Dist. Atty. Karla Kerlin said Monday.

By obtaining the indictment, prosecutors avoided a preliminary hearing, which could have subjected their witnesses to cross-examination by the defense.

Saldivar is accused of injecting seven patients with paralyzing drugs at Glendale Adventist Medical Center in 1996 and 1997. In a 1998 confession that he later recanted, Saldivar said he may have contributed to the deaths of as many as 200 patients.

Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty, Kerlin said.

Oki also agreed to a request by Saldivar’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Verah Bradford, to keep the grand jury transcripts sealed until Dec. 10. Bradford argued that she needed time to prepare a motion to challenge the unsealing of the documents.

Saldivar has been held without bail since his arrest Jan. 9.