Slowly but surely, justice prevails in veterans’ deaths

Slow and steady, it seems, does in fact win the race.

Almost three years from the first murder and two years from the time she was removed, Reta Mays has finally been charged with seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of assault with the intent to commit murder. Mays pleaded guilty to the charges.

From July 2017 to June 2018, Mays administered unnecessary doses of insulin to veterans staying in Ward 3A, contributing to or resulting in their deaths.

We’ve been impatient for the last year or so, when families started coming forward in droves to discuss their loved ones’ suspicious deaths. It was hinted multiple times that the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Hospital and investigators had an idea of who did it, and many of us wondered why the prosecuting attorney wasn’t slapping down charges on this predator.

But life isn’t like an episode of Law and Order or CSI. Real life investigations have real life consequences, so they have to be done right. And even though it took about two years, the case against Reta Mays was done right.

Last October, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell told Hoppy Kercheval that his office would only have one shot to get this right. A recent article in the Washington Post demonstrated the case against Mays, who worked the night shift on the ward where the victims stayed, was largely circumstantial: There were no cameras in patients’ rooms and the cameras in the common areas — including where the insulin was kept — weren’t working at the time. Without physical and video evidence, it would be easy, as Powell said, for a good defense attorney to chip away at the case until there was enough reasonable doubt to deny a conviction. Which is why investigators spent two years combing through every piece of data and paperwork they possibly could and conducting forensic analyses and hundreds of interviews.

We would like to applaud the work of the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Northern District of West Virginia, the Veterans Administration’s Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the West Virginia State Police and the Greater Harrison Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force for their dedication to finding justice for these veterans and their families. Because of their careful work, Mays will never be in a position to harm our veterans again. By working out a guilty plea, prosecutors have spared the victims’ families the uncertainties of a trial.

We hope, at some point, prosecutors and investigators will be able to uncover Mays’ motive. While justice has been delivered, the why remains a lingering question, preventing families — and the public — from getting full closure.

We would like to honor the memory of these veterans and their service: Robert Edge Sr., U.S. Navy; Robert Kozul, U.S. Army; Archie Edgell, U.S. Army; George Shaw, U.S. Air Force; Felix McDermott, U.S. Army; Raymond Golden, whose military branch could not be determined; and the two veterans identified only by their initials: W.A.H and R.R.P.

Now that justice has prevailed, may their families and their spirits find peace.