Free Sullivan's Law by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg Page B

She was puzzled as to why the public defender who’d represented him hadn’t pleaded him not guilty by reason of insanity. The fact that Metroix suffered from schizophrenia and had spent three months in a state psychiatric hospital had never been mentioned during the trial, nor were any records from his psychiatrist forwarded to the authorities at Chino. She couldn’t ask his public defender what happened as the man had been killed in a car accident fifteen years ago.
    When she finished reading through the trial transcripts, Carolyn managed to extract Metroix’s original arrest and booking sheet from the computer’s archives. Among his personal belongings had been an appointment card from a local psychiatrist, along with a small white envelope containing four pills, which the crime lab had identified as a drug called Levodopa.
    She’d never heard of this particular medication, which wasn’t surprising considering what little she knew about psychotropic medications. She first tried to track down Walter Gershon, the psychiatrist listed on the card, but was unable to find his number. Assuming the doctor had either retired or died like the public defender, she typed in the drug Levodopa on the Internet, then hit the search button.
    The on-line PDR, or Physicians Desk Reference, indicated that Levodopa was primarily used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Why would a schizophrenic be given a drug used to treat Parkinson’s? The medication dramatically increased the levels of dopamine in the brain.
    Carolyn decided to call a psychiatrist who frequently served as an expert witness. Once she told Dr. Albert Weiss’s secretary that she could bill the county for an hour of the doctor’s time, the woman transferred her to his cell phone.
    â€œI need to ask you a question,” Carolyn said, telling him the name of the medication and a brief outline of the circumstances.
    â€œAny psychiatrist,” Dr. Weiss said, “or even any physician, for that matter, would never treat a known schizophrenic with Levodopa. Are you sure you got the name of the drug right?”
    â€œIt could have been a typo,” she told him. “Was there a medication with a similar spelling which may have been prescribed for this condition over twenty years ago?”
    â€œI’ve been practicing psychiatry since you were in grade school,” Weiss told her. “As far as I know, there’s no such animal.”
    â€œWhat kind of effect would the drug have?”
    â€œOh, nothing much,” the psychiatrist said sarcastically. “The patient would more than likely become psychotic not long after the drug hit his bloodstream. You caught me on the golf course. I’m about to tee off. Did I answer your question?”
    â€œThanks,” Carolyn said. “Enjoy your game.”
    Heading to the break room to get a soda, Carolyn ran into Brad Preston as he was chatting and laughing with Amy McFarland.
    â€œI’ve come across some major discrepancies in the Metroix case.” Carolyn pulled back the tab on her can of 7UP and took a swallow. “As soon as I get all the facts straight, we need to talk.”
    Brad smiled at Amy McFarland. “See the guy once a month,” he told Carolyn. “I assigned you four more investigations this morning. The Metroix case is ancient history. You don’t have time to be concerned about discrepancies.”
    Carolyn gave him a look that would drop an elephant. His new girlfriend didn’t seem to be pressed for time. She turned and smiled sweetly at the woman. “Have you met Brad’s fiancée, Amy?” she asked. “You should see the ring he gave her last week. Looks like about three carats. Not only that, he’s taking her to Paris on their honeymoon. Isn’t that romantic?”
    Carolyn watched the woman’s face twist in anger. She stormed out of the room, whacking Brad in the stomach with her purse