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Title
NEW TRIAL IN PROZAC MURDER CASE
Release Date
2005-02-15
Time
07:01:00
Comment
Article Text
FEBRUARY 15, 2005. I used to keep track of the suicides and murders that appeared to relate to the ingestion of SSRI antidepressants. But then too many piled up.
Now we have the case of a man who was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence. On appeal, however, a judge has ruled that the man, Christopher Bernaiche, can get a new trial, because crucial evidence was barred from his first day in court.
Bernaiche was on Prozac when he killed two men in a bar. In fact, shortly before the killings, his dosage was increased.
The key evidence Bernaiche's lawyers tried to introduce was a report that Prozac can cause violent behavior.
You have to ask yourself why the judge wouldn't allow the report to be presented.
A jury isn't permitted to decide on the merits?
Routinely in murder cases, shrinks for the defense are allowed to take the stand and claim the defendant is suffering from some mental illness that doesn't exist but impelled the defendant to act beyond his own power to restrain himself.
This is considered okay.
But when a drug is involved...all of a sudden the tables are turned.
And not just any drug.
The hot debate arises when it's Prozac or Paxil or Zoloft or Luvox.
There are billions of dollars at stake.
And certain people who, at that point, want anything resembling justice to take a back seat.
DETROIT (AP) - A judge granted a new trial to a man serving a life sentence for killing two men in a suburban Detroit bar, saying prosecutors wrongly withheld an expert's memo about the effects of Prozac.
Attorneys for Christopher Bernaiche, 28, had argued that the side effects of the anti-depressant triggered their client's deadly 2002 rampage. But jurors convicted Bernaiche in February 2004 in the deaths of Charles Stull, 35, and Douglas Kruszewski, 33.
Circuit Judge Deborah Thomas ruled Friday that a report from Dr. Phillip Margolis, a professor emeritus with the University of Michigan's psychiatry department, was improperly withheld during the trial. The report said Prozac can lead to increased aggression and violent behavior.
Bernaiche began taking Prozac in October 2002. His dosage was doubled to 40 milligrams five days before the shootings, the Detroit Free Press reported in Tuesday's editions.
Wayne County prosecutors said they plan to appeal the ruling.
end AP piece
JON RAPPOPORT www.nomorefakenews.com