Pressdee, 41, avoided a trial as well as the possibility of execution by lethal injection by agreeing to plead guilty on Thursday to three charges of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder.

In return, the judge presiding over her case handed her three consecutive life sentences for the murders. Pressdee was also ordered to subsequently serve another 380 to 760 years in prison for the attempted murders.

“I’m very sorry,” Pressdee said in court on Thursday, WTAE reported. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done.”

Meanwhile, outside the courtroom on Thursday, her defense attorney, Phil DiLucente, addressed reporters and sought to assure the public of Pressdee’s regret.

“There is not all bad in everyone, and you could see at the end, she was remorseful,” DiLucente reportedly said. “There was a tear in her eyes.”

A statement attributed to Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Michelle Henry, excoriated Pressdee for exploiting “her position of trust as a means to poison patients who depended on her care”.

“This plea and life sentence will not bring back the lives lost,” Henry’s statement continued. “But it will ensure Heather Pressdee never has another opportunity to inflict further harm.”

Multiple civil court lawsuits seeking wrongful-death damages from Pressdee’s former employers in connection with her criminal case remained pending on Thursday.