Jury Deliberates Verdict Of MWC Doctor Accused Of Killing Patients Through Prescription Drugs

A Midwest City doctor is on trial in Oklahoma County, she was accused of killing patients through a deadly mix of prescription drugs. The state attorney general charged Dr. Regan Nichols with five counts of second-degree murder.

The jury went into deliberations on Thursday after listening to three weeks of testimony. They also heard convincing closing arguments from both sides. 

The state attorney general's case against Nichols goes back to 2015. Nichols was arrested and charged two years later with five counts of second-degree murder, although nine of her patients died under her care. She treated them from her Midwest City clinic.

Prosecutors said Nichols perpetuated the state's opioid crisis by prescribing patients the "Trinity" and "Holy Trinity" of prescription drugs, a deadly combination of opioids, muscle relaxers and anti-anxiety pills. The state had evidence that one of her patients who died took 2,200 pills in one month. The others also took hundreds of pills a month.

Related: MWC Doctor Prescribed 'Holy Trinity' Of Opioids To Patients Before Their Deaths

The doctor was accused of running a "pill mill" and prosecutors claimed she showed a pattern of overprescribing that turned her patients into addicts.

Nichols' attorney argued that none of the victims were murdered but were declared accidental overdose deaths by the medical examiner. He said all the victims did it to themselves. They took more than the prescribed dosage before their deaths.

The defense also brought up the lawsuit the attorney general’s office filed against pharmaceutical companies which was filed a week before Nichols was charged.

The sentence for second-degree murder is 10 years to life in prison.