Former nurse faces manslaughter charge
Woman was first charged with misdemeanor homicide
The charge against a former nurse at the Bi-State Justice Building jail accused in a diabetic inmate’s death has been amended from misdemeanor negligent homicide to felony manslaughter.
Miller County Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Black amended the charge Friday against Brittany Danae Johnson. Johnson allegedly caused the July 1, 2016, death of 20-year-old Morgan Angerbauer by refusing to treat her the night before her death, despite knowing of her serious medical condition.
Johnson was initially charged with misdemeanor negligent homicide. Friday, the charge was amended to felony manslaughter. Instead of up to a year in the county jail, Johnson now faces three to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
“We are pleased with the decision made by the prosecutor’s office,” said Jennifer Houser, Angerbauer’s mother. “We are hoping justice is served in the
tragic death of our daughter.”
Angerbauer allegedly banged on her cell door for hours the night of June 30, 2016, and into the early hours of July 1, 2016. Angerbauer allegedly asked Johnson, a licensed vocational nurse, to check her sugar around 5:15 p.m. June 30, but Johnson allegedly refused, telling Angerbauer that staff, not detainees, decide when medical attention occurs, according to a probable-cause affidavit used to create the following account.
“Shortly after 5 p.m., according to Johnson, she walked past the medical observation cell where Angerbauer was housed on her way to other segregation cells,” the affidavit states. “Johnson openly admitted that Angerbauer told her she was ready to go to medical at that time. Johnson also admitted that she was fully aware of the severity of Angerbauer’s medical diabetic situation, but rather than treat her, she told her that ‘things don’t work that way. If you miss your medical call, you have to wait until it’s time for your next medical call.’ Johnson told investigators that if she allowed all offenders to do that, she’d never get anything done,” the affidavit states.
Angerbauer was arrested June 28, 2016, on a motion to revoke probation filed in Miller County alleging administrative violations such as failure to complete court-ordered programs. Glucose testing in the downtown Texarkana jail in the days before her death repeatedly showed high readings.
Jail trustees allegedly noticed Angerbauer unconscious on the floor of her cell, a medical observation space just 20 feet from the nurse’s station, about 4 a.m. July 1, 2016. Johnson was allegedly unable to obtain a numerical reading using blood sugar testing equipment and misinterpreted a reading as an error rather than as indicative of a dangerously high sugar level.
Johnson administered glucose, or pure sugar, as Angerbauer allegedly slipped deeper into unconsciousness. A medical examiner’s report puts Angerbauer’s sugar level at 813. A normal blood sugar range is 70 to 110.
Angerbauer’s family has filed a civil lawsuit in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas federal court. The suit alleges LaSalle Corrections, the private company that manages the jail; LaSalle owners and administrators; Johnson; and Johnson’s supervisor, registered nurse Regina Lynch, are liable in the preventable death.
Johnson is free on bond. She is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing in October, but that could change in light of the amended charge.