FARMINGTON — A Utah doctor says prosecutors discouraged him from telling attorneys for psychiatrist Robert Allen Weitzel he believed Weitzel provided adequate care for the five patients he was convicted of killing.
Dr. Perry Fine testified Wednesday at a hearing before 2nd District Judge Thomas Kay to consider Weitzel's request for such a new trial, based on his assertion that some evidence that might have helped his cause was not heard in the first trial.
Weitzel was convicted July 10 of two counts of manslaughter and three counts of negligent homicide in the deaths of five patients at the Davis Hospital and Medical Center's geriatric-psychiatric unit.
Mary Crane, Judith Larsen, Ennis Alldredge, Ellen Anderson and Lydia Smith died within a 16-day period in December 1995 and January 1996. In September, Weitzel was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for causing their deaths.
But defense attorney Peter Stirba argued Wednesday that Weitzel should be given a new trial, alleging that members of the prosecution team compromised the original trial by failing to disclose the opinion of one of their potential expert witnesses, Perry Fine.
An end-of-life care specialist and University of Utah medical professor, Fine testified he agreed to review portions of the patients' medical records for the prosecution to determine whether Weitzel provided appropriate care.
However, after spending about 15 hours going over the records, Fine testified he told Assistant Attorneys General Elizabeth Bowman and Charlene Barlow he believed that though the quality of Weitzel's care may have been lacking, his behavior was not criminal.
"All I could do was say what, as I saw it, was the truth," Fine said. "Which was, at least in my review of the records I was given, that there was evidence of a good-faith attempt to mitigate the (patients') symptoms, to provide palliative care, and that there was no evidence of criminal acts."
Davis County Attorney Mel Wilson asked Fine if he thought the patients were terminally ill at the time Weitzel treated them, which Fine affirmed. During the trial, prosecutors argued the patients only became terminal after Weitzel began ordering the administration of morphine and psychiatric medications.
"Certainly, it would not be appropriate to give end-of-life care if those patients were not at the end of life," Fine said, but held his evaluation of selected medical records led him to believe they qualified for hospice care.
Fine also testified Bowman and Barlow requested he "not be so forthcoming" when or if members of the defense team contacted him, also stating in an affidavit they advised him to avoid all communication with defense counsel if possible.
Barlow and Bowman deny the allegations in written affidavits filed in court.
Barlow and Bowman are expected to testify Dec. 11, after which Kay will determine whether they should have disclosed Fine's opinion to the defense. If he so rules, attorneys will argue whether that evidence would have been crucial enough to Weitzel's defense to warrant a new trial.
In a related matter, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) spokesman Kim Morris confirmed a petition has been filed against Weitzel's medical license, which has been suspended. That petition, which asks for revocation of Weitzel's license given his criminal convictions, is still pending.
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