Late yesterday, a specialist in addiction and pain medicine - Dr. James Gagne - testified that Kapoor was “acting outside the standard practice” by prescribing a large amount of opiates and sedatives to Smith. Gagne said Kapoor should have known from records that Smith had an addiction and should have weaned her off the medication instead of refilling prescriptions. Although Smith had fractured ribs and a dislocated shoulder in two separate incidents, Gagne thought that Kapoor “continued prescribing opiates for too long to ease her pain.”
According to Gagne’s testimony, Smith was not only taking more than the prescribed amount but also acted like a “space cadet”, which should have indicated an excessive amount of medication. Gagne drew attention to the fact that Kapoor prescribed 460 tablets of Methadone for Smith on August 17, 2006, yet only eight days later Smith claimed to be experiencing withdrawals and asked for more.
Yesterday questions also arose as to whether or not Smith’s nannies will testify. Prosecutors have not been able to locate a Creole translator but told the judge they expect the nannies to testify on September 7th.
Today, the judge expressed doubt regarding the prosecution’s ability to provide evidence on the two key conspiracy charges against Stern, Eroshevich, and Kapoor. Judge Perry “also has concerns about the propriety of at least eight overt acts listed to support the 11-count case against” the trio.
More to come tomorrow!
August 31, 2010
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