A murder that has gone unpunished for 16 years was settled in less than 30 minutes yesterday in the Franklin County Courthouse.As expected, Michael J. Swango pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated murder for the 1984 death of Cynthia Ann McGee at the Ohio State University Medical Center.Swango was sentenced to life in prison, with a chance of parole after 20 years; however, he is already serving three consecutive life sentences in a New York federal jail, with no chance of parole.The plea was delivered in front of a packed courtroom, including media, friends and even a class of high school students in the building for a yearly field trip. Despite the flood of media coverage preceding Swango’s appearance in court, the hearing went smoothly, quickly and unremarkably. Prosecuting attorneys Ron O’Brien and Ed Morgan gave a brief synopsis of the events leading up to yesterday’s hearing. According to Morgan, Swango was notified of his unsatisfactory performance through evaluations in early January 1984. On Jan. 14, he began his one month rotation in the neurosurgery wing of the OSU Medical Center, where five “very questionable” deaths occurred.Swango showed no emotion as the attorneys detailed his actions on the day he took the life of the 19-year-old McGee. On the night of Jan. 14, 1984, McGee was suffering from a fever of 102-104 degrees. Swango was called to take a blood culture from McGee, which he claimed to have performed at approximately 11:30 p.m. At midnight, a code blue sounded and doctors rushed to McGee’s room to find her unresponsive. The initial report quoted a nurse as saying McGee had a “pale, dusty bluish look” at the time. Although Swango was on the floor at the time of the code blue, he did not respond.Swango sat quietly in his seat during the proceedings, his strawberry blond hair styled in a short crewcut. He made no sounds and appeared almost uninterested in the process. When asked to make his plea, Swango looked the judge in the eye and admitted his guilt in a strong, clear voice.Before passing sentence, Sadler took a few moments to address Swango directly, telling him that patients entrusted him with their safety when they entered the hospital.”You have betrayed that trust and betrayed the medical profession,” Sadler said.McGee’s parents are now living in Florida and did not make the trip to Columbus for the hearing. However, their attorney, Brian Miller, read a brief statement from them:”We would like to express our gratitude to the federal investigators for putting Swango in a place where he could not do harm to anyone else,” read Miller. “We are saddened by the reopening of old wounds. ‘Time heals all wounds’ is just a slogan. Not a day goes by when we do not think of Cindy.”