Deseret News

      Wednesday, March 13, 2002

      Weitzel gets new trial date, attorney 
      By Linda Thomson
      Deseret News staff writer

            FARMINGTON — A new trial date, a new attorney and a new judge have 
      emerged in the case of psychiatrist Robert Allen Weitzel, who has been 
      charged with negligent homicide and manslaughter — along with an anonymous 
      donation of $100,000 to a nonprofit organization to hire a prominent 
      defense attorney.
            Attorney Walter Bugden has formally joined public defender Glen 
      Cella as part of Weitzel's defense team.
            Bugden told 2nd District Judge Rodney Page Tuesday that Weitzel is 
      indigent and that his attorneys will document this in meetings with 
      prosecutors, which might eliminate the need for an indigency hearing in 
      court.
            Page set Aug. 5 as the trial date and estimated it would take three 
      weeks.
            This is Weitzel's second trial in the case of five elderly patients 
      who died while under his care at the Davis Hospital and Medical Center's 
      geriatric-psychiatric unit. Prosecutors originally charged Weitzel with 
      five counts of first-degree murder, alleging that Weitzel weakened the 
      patients' immune systems with psychotropic drugs and then overdosed them 
      with morphine.
            Weitzel has maintained the patients were seriously ill and in pain.
            A jury convicted him in July 2000 of two counts of second-degree 
      manslaughter and three misdemeanor counts of negligent homicide and he was 
      sentenced to 15 years in prison.
            However, 2nd District Judge Thomas Kay threw out the conviction and 
      ordered a new trial upon learning that prosecutors had not disclosed an 
      expert witness whose testimony could have benefited Weitzel's case and 
      perhaps even produced a different outcome.
            Kay later was removed from the case because of "apparent bias" 
      against prosecutors. Meanwhile, Weitzel was charged again with 
      manslaughter and negligent homicide.
            Davis County prosecutor Steve Major said the defense situation is 
      curious since he has not heard of someone having a private attorney paid 
      with private funds along with a public defender paid with tax money in the 
      same case. Weitzel's Web site says he has gotten $112,000 and that sum was 
      mentioned on a recent "60 Minutes" show about the case.
            However, Bugden insisted that Weitzel, who currently works as a 
      waiter, is indigent. Bugden said that of that money, $12,000 was paid to 
      him last summer and the remaining $100,000 came from the anonymous donor 
      but was paid to a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based center that studies 
      "comfort care" for the terminally ill.
            If the indigency question cannot be settled among the attorneys, 
      Page said he would decide it.
            Bugden also was unhappy that the trial could not begin in June. 
      "They have persecuted and prosecuted Dr. Weitzel for years and now they 
      can't go to trial?" he asked outside the courtroom.
            However, prosecutors requested more time to file motions involving 
      evidence that was not permitted to be introduced at the first trial. 
      Assistant Attorney General Charlene Barlow said the state also may need to 
      find a new expert witness because an earlier witness may not be able to 
      testify due to time constraints.

© 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company

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