Tait guilty of second-degree murder

Jun. 23—LAKE VILLAGE, Arkansas — A former W.W. Hasting doctor has been found guilty by an Arkansas jury of second-degree murder for killing a nurse while they were a trip to that state.

Tyler Edward Tait, 36, was convicted Friday, June 23, of second-degree murder in the death of Tahlequah nurse Moria Kinsey, 37, when the pair were traveling together in October 2021. Tait was also ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution.

While outside of Lake Village, Arkansas, on Oct. 11, 2021, the defendant called authorities and said Kinsey was having a seizure. Kinsey was transported to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Officials in the Chicot County Court Clerk's Office said Tait was sentenced to 30 years, with the possibility of parole. He will be sentenced to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. No information was available by press time as to whether an appeal would be filed, or which facility Tait is to be housed in. Officials said the jury opted for the lesser charge, rather than first-degree murder, the original charge levied against him. A second-degree murder conviction indicates the jury did not believe it was planned.

According to court documents, a report from the medical examiner asserted death by strangulation. Attorneys had requested a continuance for an earlier trial date when they could not locate a witness who sent text messages to the defendant, corroborating their argument that the victim's alleged alcohol use may have contributed to her death. The motion for continuance, filed May 30, said that while the state claims that Kinsey's death was homicide by strangulation, the defense claims that "she was having significant health problems, as does the autopsy finding of severe liver steatosis." The defense stated they have not been able to locate the witness, a nurse who worked with the victim, and that text messages to Tait from the witness "demonstrate that Kinsey was having severe health problems from alcohol abuse in the week before her death."

The state had filed in May a motion in limine regarding defense allegations of alcohol abuse by the victim. According to the motion, the "defense counsel has made allegations that the victim was an alcoholic, and that alcohol abuse somehow contributed to her death. There is absolutely no evidence to support that claim." The filing also states "defense witnesses should be instructed not to speculate or give an opinion as to any pre-existing medical conditions that could have caused or contributed to her death without supporting documentation."

In the defense's response to the motion in limine, they claimed the state was seeking to prevent Tait from presenting his defense, "which is that Kinsey died of natural causes and that the conditions supposedly indicative of strangulation are artifacts of previous injuries and/or resuscitative efforts."

Tait's attorney's also claimed Kinsey was fired from her last nursing job within a week or two of her death for showing up to work intoxicated, that "severe steatosis" is consistent with alcohol abuse, her iPhone and Apple watch showed she was "tachycardic several times in the hours preceding her death," and that the witness texted Tait expressing concerns about Kinsey's "lack of sobriety."

The former physician, who was represented by Arkansas attorney's Robert G. Bridewell and Jeff Rosenzweig, pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge in November 2021. On April 28, 2023, Tait received an order of release on a $275,000 bond before he was to appear at his jury trial beginning June 20, 2023.