Traci Lynn Rhode's nursing license suspended

Traci Lynn Rhode's excellent professional life contrasted sharply with that of a cold-blooded woman who killed her husband, catching the attention of an administrative law judge who presided over a hearing regarding the suspension of Rhode's nursing license.

"This case is more difficult than most cases involving nurses with criminal convictions for violent crimes because of the extraordinary, confusing disconnect between the conviction and Ms. Rhode's otherwise exemplary conduct in her professional and personal life," State Office of Administrative Hearings Judge Shannon Kilgore wrote to the Texas Board of Nursing on Oct. 28.

The issue of Rhode's licensing went to the SOAH because the Texas Board of Nursing staff and Rhode were unable to agree on whether her license should or not be suspended pending the appeal of her first-degree murder conviction to the Thirteenth Court of Appeals.

Rhode, 38, was found guilty by a state district court jury in 2007 for the October 2003 first-degree murder of her husband, Scott. The jury probated the 10-year sentence it assessed. The presiding judge followed the jury's recommendation, but final conviction was not entered pending her appeal before the Thirteenth Court of Appeals.

Kilgore ultimately recommended to the Texas Board of Nursing to suspend Rhode's registered-nurse license. The board suspended it effective Jan. 23.

Since that time, Rhode's appeal was dismissed at her request and state District Judge Benjamin Euresti has scheduled a March 23 date to finalize her conviction.

Central to the painstaking process before Kilgore was the question: Should a nurse who committed first-degree murder be permitted to continue practicing?

"The evidence establishes that Ms. Rhode has had an impressive career as a nurse, is a generous and compassionate friend to many, and has provided steady mothering to her children under the direst circumstances imaginable," Kilgore wrote about the Brownsville resident in her recommendation to the nursing board.

But at the end, Kilgore also wrote that neither she nor the nursing board was in a position to second-guess the jury's verdict.

"And, given that Ms. Rhode has denied committing the crime, (I) and (the) board must also assume that her denials are untrue," Kilgore wrote.

"If Ms. Rhode is indeed innocent and her conviction a tragic error, her remedy lies with the criminal justice system," Kilgore wrote.

Rhode had been nursing for 18 years, which included work in Texas and other states.

Rhode recently declined to comment on the suspension.

She still asserts that her 35-year-old husband committed suicide. The public record shows that reports from scene investigators indicated that the gun was fired through a pillow lying on the victim's head.

"Anyone who knows me would tell you, I am not capable of such a heinous act of disregard for human life. I will never know the reasons my husband decided to end his life, but I am not responsible for his choice or his action," Rhode wrote to the nursing board staff.

Dr. Edgar Nace, a psychiatrist in the Dallas area, who evaluated Rhode, told the SOAH that he found no evidence of mental illness.

According to Kilgore's report, Nace said that Rhode's conviction "was a miscarriage of justice . . . "

Kilgore also wrote, "On the other hand, (Nace) acknowledged that if in fact Ms. Rhode had committed murder, her denial of the murder would constitute a lack of truthfulness that would affect a determination of her character to some extent."

Kilgore further noted that Rhode's counselor, Dr. Susan Ander, does not believe Rhode was capable of killing her husband.

Ander at the SOAH hearing, according to the Kilgore report, said that if Rhode killed her husband the criminal activity will not likely continue because "the person that she murdered is gone so there's nobody more to murder. "

Other professionals, friends and family also proclaimed Rhode's innocence.

Following Kilgore's recommendation, the nursing board suspended Rhode's license. The board is not expected to take further action until Rhode's conviction is final. At that time, the license could either be revoked, reinstated on the fifth anniversary of completing probation, or reinstated if the conviction is overturned, which is not likely.

A clarification was made to the original story: Dr. Susan Ander is a licensed professional counselor and not a psychologist as was noted by the State Office of Administrative Hearing Judge Shannon Kilgore in her findings regarding the nursing license of Traci Lynn Rhode.