Business at Alta View Hospital began returning to normal Monday while the man accused of killing a nurse and taking nine hostages there remained in jail on an intensive suicide watch.
Richard L. Worthington was being held in the Salt Lake County Jail's mental health unit when he jumped off a table Sunday about 6 a.m. in what jailers described as an attempted suicide."(He) came to his cell door and motioned me to go over and talk to him. When I got to his door he was crying and told me that he had to get out of here or he would hurt himself," a jail officer reported. "I told him, `No, I can't let you out,' and began to tell him what would happen if he tried to hurt himself. But as I began to explain, he climbed on top of his table in his cell, stood stiff and leaned back, falling and hitting his head on the floor."
Worthington was taken to University Hospital, where he was treated for a cut on the head. He then was returned to the jail's mental health unit.
Federal bomb charges will not be among those considered when prosecutors meet with detectives to build their case against Worthington.
Bob Mucci, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said federal and Salt Lake County attorneys have agreed that any charges would be filed by and prosecuted by the state.
"It would be superfluous for us to file charges," Mucci said. "In a case like this where there has been a murder committed and hostages have been taken . . . their penalty is much more severe."
Salt Lake County Prosecutor Bud Ellett said prosecutors will screen the charges either late Monday or Tuesday, and arraignment on the charges could come Tuesday.Alta View Hospital remained closed Sunday as police and hospital administrators began the work of transforming the crime scene back into a functional hospital. The hospital reopened at 6 a.m. Monday.
The hospital's emergency room and the women's center, where the hostages were taken, remain closed. Those two facilities are not expected to be open until 7 a.m. Tuesday. Staff workers and doctors who work in those areas received counseling sessions Monday concerning the incident.
"If everything looks good from an emotional-psychological point of view, we'll open those two areas on Tuesday morning," he said.
Twenty surgeries were to be performed at the Sandy hospital Monday, said Wes Thompson, associate hospital administrator.
Damage to the hospital was confined to two rooms and a doctor's office. Army explosives expert John Galinaitis of the 66nd Ordnance Detachment at Fort Douglas is being credited with saving the hospital. Working carefully for 21/2 hours Saturday night, he disarmed the explosive device left behind by Worthington.
Intermountain Health Care spokesman Jess Gomez said few of the 32 patients evacuated early Saturday will return to Alta View. Some will stay at Cottonwood or Jordan Valley Holy Cross hospitals to complete their treatments. Others have been released to go home from those hospitals.
Meanwhile, President Alan Layton of the Granite View Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked members of the Granite Ward to pray for help for the Worthington family.
"There isn't much right now we can do for Brother Rick, but there are things we can do for the family," he said, encouraging them to help the Worthingtons ward off visitors and curiosity seekers. He said the family already has received several crank calls.
He also cautioned church members against spreading rumors and personally seeking facts about the family and the weekend incident.