Date Rape Drug On Trial
Jury selection began in Detroit on Monday in a one of the first trials involving the so-called "date rape" drug.
Four suburban Detroit men are accused of manslaughter in the death of 15-year-old Samantha Reid in January 1999. Police say the men spiked the girl's soft drink with a fatal dose of the drug known as G-H-B. Authorities say Samantha was one of three girls who unknowingly ingested the drug at a party.
G-H-B, a powerful central nervous system depressant, has no odor or taste. Just a few drops can make someone pass out within 20 minutes. Victims often have no memory of what happened.
The defendants, who range in age from 18 to 26, are Erick Limmer, Joshua Cole, Daniel Brayman, and Nicholas Holtschlag.
Cole will have his own jury, since he's the only defendant alleged to have confessed. He also faces three counts of felony poisoning, each carrying a possible life sentence.
The other defendants are charged with two poisoning counts each for GHB-tainted drinks allegedly given to Samantha and her friend, who temporarily fell into a coma. A third girl alleged to have unknowingly ingested G-H-B did not become sick.
A medical examiner has testified GHB levels in the girls were more than twice the level found in other fatal cases. Samantha, who fell unconscious and vomited shortly after drinking a GHB-spiked Mountain Dew she first termed "gross," died the day after the party.
"I don't have any doubt this girl was given GHB, and I don't have any doubt it killed her," said John Gates Jr., Brayman's attorney. "But the real key in this will be the witnesses that were present."
Last week, Gates and Holtschlag's attorney Brian Dailey said they planned to argue their clients were not aware GHB was even around the night in question.
Gates and Dailey plan to lay the blame on Cole, whose attorney, John Courtright, said his client spiked the drinks with what he believed was only a harmless intoxicant supplied by Limmer.
"There was no intent to poison or harm these girls," Courtright said. "It disturbs me they're being charged with this poisoning."
Courtright added Cole "had no ideas of the dangers" of the substance and "played with fire" by adding it to the drinks, resulting in "a very tragic case."
Limmer's attorney, Cecil St. Pierre, did not return several messages last week seeking comment. Limmer, who also is charged with possession of GHB and delivery of marijuana, has said he was gone or in his bedroom most of the night the girls were drugged.
Police say G-H-B has been used in a number of sexual assaults. G-H-B is legal in 30 states and is used by body builders as a steroid, but in Michigan its possession is considered a felony. Michigan and about 20 other states classify G-H-B as a controlled substance.
Some take G-H-B as an aphrodisiac or for weight loss, even though the FDA banned its public sale in 1990 amid concerns about its use as a dieary supplement. Since then, the Drug Enforcement Administration has said G-H-B has been linked to at least 58 deaths and more than 5,700 recorded overdoses.