BERLIN (Reuters) -A palliative nurse was convictedon Wednesday of the murder of 10 patients with lethal injections and the attempted murder of 27 others and was handed a life sentence by a German court.
Prosecutors had argued that the nurse injected his mostly elderly patients with painkillers or sedatives to ease his workload at night.
The crime was found to be particularly severe, said a spokesperson for the court in Aachen, meaning the nurse has little chance of being released after 15 years, the minimum time that can be served for a life sentence in Germany.
The nurse committed the crimes between December 2023 and May 2024 in a clinic near Aachen in western Germany.
The verdict can be appealed.
Investigators are looking at several other suspicious incidents during the nurse's career, German media reported.
In the worst killing spree in Germany's post-war history, a former nurse was jailed in 2019 for life for murdering 85 of his patients.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
