1. Clayton psychiatrist charged with murder in patients' overdose death.
A Clayton County psychiatrist, who came to be known far and wide as "Dr. Death," was charged Wednesday with killing at least three of his former patients who died of overdoses. For years Dr. Narendra K. Nagareddy avoided repercussions from allegedly over-prescribing pain medications. Then in January he was arrested, charged with prescribing pain medicine to 29-year-old Audrey Austin, who died of an overdose. Nagareddy was free on a $100,000 bond from that arrest when a Clayton County grand jury on Wednesday returned a 62-count indictment that said the doctor murdered not just Austin, but two other people — David Robinson, 49, and Cheryl Pennington 47. Read more.
2. Georgia agrees to additional federal oversight of mental health system.
Six years ago, Georgia promised sweeping changes to its psychiatric-care system, a dark, dangerous place where dozens of patients died under suspicious circumstances. On Wednesday, state officials acknowledged their efforts have fallen short. They agreed to at least two more years of federal oversight, pledging new spending if necessary to find appropriate, safe homes for patients institutionalized in state mental hospitals, some of them for decades. Gov. Nathan Deal signed documents committing to remove developmentally disabled adults from the state hospitals by June 30, 2018, three years later than a deadline set in 2010. Read more.
3. Fulton commissioners support keeping Central Library.
The future of Atlanta's Central Library isn't any more certain Wednesday, after Fulton County commissioners delayed making a decision about whether renovate the historic building. But commissioners expressed support for keeping the building, even if they're still not quite sure what to do with it. In comments following a presentation of possible plans, they poo-pooed the idea of buying expensive downtown land to build a new, smaller main branch elsewhere in the city. Fulton County residents in 2008 approved $275 million in bonds to renovate existing libraries and build new branches as part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. Read more.
4. Loganville man accused of war-time atrocities in Bosnia.
His hands clenched, his voice taut, Nedzad Jakupovic recounted in agonizing detail how he endured the beatings inflicted upon him in Bosnia almost a quarter-century ago. A Serbian soldier, whom Jakupovic identified as a local man named "Mladen," forced him into a torture chamber inside a makeshift prison camp in the small town of Trnopolje. Serbian soldiers then jumped on his head, kicked him in the groin, pushed a burning cigarette into an open wound and beat him until he lost consciousness, Jakupovic testified. One of those soldiers, prosecutors say, was Mladen Mitrovic, who has lived in the metro area for the past two decades, working at the DeKalb Farmers Market and as a machine operator. Read more.
5. DNA Denial: Ga. inmate learns courts callous evidence of innocence.
It's been 15 years since the sexual assault that sent Sandeep "Sonny" Bharadia away for life, but Kisha Pitts can't let go of the case or the mundane details of her life that weekend. Pitts, a suburban Atlanta mother, testified as an alibi witness at the 2003 trial. She says it was impossible for him to have committed the crime. She described how Bharadia, her husband's friend from work, spent significant parts of the weekend with their family in Stone Mountain — 250 miles away from the Savannah suburb where a young school teacher was sexually assaulted by a man inside her apartment as she returned home from church. Read more.
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