Murder Attempt Count Involving Infant Dropped

A judge dismissed on Friday a charge of attempted murder against Randy Powers, the former hospital technician accused of injecting a near-fatal dose of the heart drug lidocaine into an 11-month-old girl in September.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Richard G. Kolostian said evidence presented against Powers at a preliminary hearing failed to show that the Encino man intended to kill the infant.

However, the judge let stand charges of assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful practice of medicine and child endangering against Powers in connection with the incident.

Powers, 26, is still under investigation in connection with the deaths of at least 15 patients at two hospitals where he worked, according to prosecutor Brian Kelberg, head of the district attorney’s medico-legal section.

Powers was employed as a respiratory therapist by Queen of Angels Medical Center in Los Angeles and Sherman Oaks Community Hospital in 1983 and 1984, according to hospital records.

He is charged with injecting lidocaine into Sarah Mathews of Van Nuys while she was under the care of Powers’ mother, who operated a day-care center in Encino.

At a preliminary hearing in January, Los Angeles Police Detective P. J. Quartararo testified that Powers admitted injecting the drug after he thought that Sarah had been bitten by an insect and was suffering a seizure.

The dose of the drug, which is used as a local anesthetic and to control irregularity in the heartbeat, left the girl unconscious and in critical condition, according to doctors.

To save her life, physicians at Northridge Hospital Medical Center performed a tracheotomy to help her breathe. She was released from the hospital in October and has almost fully recovered, according to a family attorney.

Power’s trial is scheduled May 31.