(30 Apr 2004)
1. Wide shot former nurse Charles Cullen led into court by two police officers
2. Pan across victims' families in audience
3. Medium shot Cullen rises, puts hand on bible to be sworn in, zoom in to hand on bible, tilt up to Cullen face
4. Wide shot judge, pan to Cullen and courtroom
5. Close up Cullen
6. Medium shot Cullen and lawyer stand
7. Medium shot lawyer and Cullen
8. Close up Cullen's handcuffed hands, tilt up to face
9. Wide shot zoom to close up judge
10. Close up Cullen, zoom out, Cullen led from courtroom by police officers

STORYLINE:

As part of a deal with prosecutors to spare his own life, former nurse Charles Cullen pleaded guilty on Thursday to murdering 13 patients and attempting to kill two others at hospitals in two states

The pleas were the first from Cullen, 44, who said last December that he had killed between 30 and 40 patients during the 16 years he worked as a nurse at ten hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Cullen was charged with a murder and two attempted murders in Somerset County on December 15 and initially said he intended to plead guilty.

But it took more than three months for him to do so, in large part because prosecutors from seven counties had to agree to the details of a guilty plea.

According to the deal, prosecutors will not seek the death penalty, and Cullen will cooperate with authorities in both states.

He faces consecutive life terms for the murders with no eligibility for parole for more than 120 years under terms of the agreement.

A sentencing date was not set and he will remain in custody pending sentencing.

About 60 relatives and their lawyers attended Thursday's proceeding, and several family were crying as a list of victims' names was read aloud in court.

If his claims are true, Cullen is one of the most prolific serial killers in the nation's history.

But unlike other killings, most of the families of the victims did not realise at the time that the deaths were murders because the victims, in most cases, were seriously ill patients killed with lethal doses of drugs.

His admission has triggered at least a dozen lawsuits filed against the hospitals where he worked by relatives of deceased patients.

The string of killings claimed by Cullen also gave lawmakers in New Jersey reason to speed up a bill requiring health care facilities to report medical errors to the state.

Cullen was fired from five nursing jobs and resigned from two others amid questions about his nursing practices.

But until he was fired from the Somerset hospital on October 31, he was always able to find another facility willing to hire him.

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