|
Current News |
Dear Friends
and Relatives,
The hearing at the Ward County
Courthouse on Friday, May 23rd, was a
marathon running from 10:00 a.m. until
6:00 p.m with a one hour break for
lunch.
In spite of the long grueling day in
court, the events of that day went about
as well for Zach as they could.
In a brilliant move, Zach’s attorney,
Chad McCabe, began the hearing with a
request to have the expert witness
sequestered. JV (John VanGrinsven III)
the State’s attorney objected loudly to
this motion, but Judge Rustad ruled in
Mr. McCabe's favor. Unlike at Zach’s
trial, the State’s expert witnesses
could not listen to Zach’s experts and
then provide questions to JV to be asked
when they were on the stand to discredit
what had been said.
Dr. Edward Kelly testified first and did
an amazing job explaining in simple
terms how the Zoloft inserts (the drug
information that is included with a
prescription) and the PDR’s (Physician
Desk Reference) made progressive changes
in warning information from 2004 to
2008. The black box warnings for suicide
did not appear until 2005, after Zach’s
trial. These warning began for children
then progressed to adolescents and in
2006 to young adults. The literature in
both publications began with subtle
warnings for changes of behavior in 2004
to the strongest language possible in
2008 that also warns adults against
suicide ideation and all age groups are
warned to watch for agitation, akathisia,
aggressiveness and violence. After
presenting this pattern of how the
warnings increased in seriousness, Dr.
Kelly again stated theses warnings are
not coming form one or two doctors but
these warnings are from a committee of
medical scientists who are concerned
about the dangerous side effects of
antidepressants.
JV grilled Dr. Kelly about whether
warnings for homicide appear any where
in the literature. Dr. Kelly saind no,
but violence is homicide!
Dr. Kelly also testified that Dr.
Belanger had a clear bias when he
evaluated Zach because of his admitted
addiction to child pornography. Dr.
Belanger’ sickness made it unlikely that
he evaluated Zach in a professional and
ethical way. Dr. Kelly worked for three
years with Dr. Belanger and he testified
about other cases that Dr. Belanger
clearly evaluated with bias.
The State’s witness Dr. Roerig, a doctor
of pharmacy, testified that these
inserts and PDR’s were no big deal, an
over reaction to the dangers of
antidepressants. He also said there was
not enough Zoloft left in Zach’s body to
cause the rage. Besides, he said, Zach
had not taken Zoloft long enough for
there to be a bad reaction to the drug.
Dr. Kelly and Dr. Maureen Hackett both
testified that you only need to take
Zoloft once to have a bad reaction to
the drug and have it cause rage. Dr.
Kelly said he had a patient who took it
only once and had a bad reaction. JV
asked if that person murdered anyone.
Dr. Kelly said, no but they wanted to.
After Dr. Roerig’s testimony, Mr. McCabe
rushed from the courtroom with a sheet
of legal paper. We found out later he
was giving questions to Dr. Kelly and
Dr. Hackett to be asked when he brought
them back to the stand as rebuttal
witnesses.
Dr. Hackett returned and had scientific
evidence proving that once you stop
Zoloft, it may not be in your blood, but
it remains in your brain as a protein
for months and possibly years. She also
said it was impossible to calculate how
much Zoloft was in Zach’s body the day
of the murder. It is not known how
quickly Zach metabolized Zoloft and
again the drug remains in the brain long
afterward.
Dr. Kelly testified to the same and both
forensic psychiatrists said the PDR’s
are like a bible to physicians and is
hugely important to all people in the
medical field.
Zach took the stand and when badgered by
JV about why his friend would say that
Zach had planned the murder (from a
conversation at the state pen), the real
Zach shown brightly. Instead of turning
on his friend and calling him a back
stabbing, egg sucking varmint, he calmly
said this is my friend and he is honest
and tells the truth. He told JV that
what his friend said was twisted and
made to look like something that was not
said. JV got real worked up and fired
back at Zach, how can you say this. Zach
calmly said, its right there in the
deposition Mr. VanGrnsen, just read it
for yourself.
Thirty plus people crowded the court
room to support Zach. Dr. Kelly asked
who all those people were. When I told
him, he had a sparkle in his eye.
Judge Rustad had a deputy of the court
contact Rhonda on Thursday and requested
that Zach have street clothes for the
hearing. Judge Rustad also asked me how
Zach was doing after the hearing.
Judge Rustad now will rule whether Zach
should have a new trial or not. His
decision will not be easy. There is
strong evidence to support a decision
for a new trial but this would set a
precedent in two ways. First, it would
be a declaration that Zoloft will cause
homicidal rage and secondly, all of Dr.
Belanger’s past evaluations would now be
suspect.
Judge Rustad will need to be very
courageous to rule in Zach’s favor. We
ask that you continue to pray for this
to happen during the next many months
that it may require for a decision to be
made.
To all of you we say thank you for your
prayers. We believe your prayers are the
reason the hearing went so well. Thank
you for attending the hearing,, for
stopping by the house to ask how things
went, and we continue to give thanks
whenever someone calls, sends a card or
note, stops by or asks in publicly how
things went and how Zach is doing.
God Bless
Gail and Rhonda
Zachary Schmidkunz -25550
NDSP
P.O. Box 5521
Bismarck ND 58506-5521 |
|
|
|
