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09-01-2004, 08:46 AM
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
TUSCOLA -- An Oakland teen pleaded innocent on Monday to a charge that he provided the drug that an Oakland High School classmate used to commit suicide.
Austen C. Eriksen, 18, of Oakland pleaded innocent and requested a jury trial during a brief arraignment hearing in which his attorney, Sean Britton of Charleston, spoke for him. Eriksen is charged with one count of inducement to commit suicide.
That charge alleges Eriksen provided the means, in the form of the legal drug Dextromethorphan, by which Eric Richardson, 17, of Hindsboro committed suicide on Feb. 5. They were seniors at the time at Oakland High School.
On Feb. 5, concerned friends found Eriksen and Richardson in a locked pickup truck at Walnut Point State Park in Douglas County.
Richardson died at the scene as the result of an overdose of DXM, and Eriksen was hospitalized. A coroner's jury later ruled Richardson committed suicide.
At the Aug. 3 preliminary hearing for Eriksen, an Illinois State Police investigator testified a search warrant executed at Eriksen's home uncovered 19.7 grams of DXM powder. That stimulant is found in cough syrup and is dangerous in large doses.
A pretrial conference for Eriksen has been scheduled for Sept. 29, and a jury trial has been set for Oct. 18.
Link: http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2004/08/30/l...ws/latest01.txt (http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2004/08/30/latestnews/latest01.txt)
TUSCOLA -- An Oakland teen pleaded innocent on Monday to a charge that he provided the drug that an Oakland High School classmate used to commit suicide.
Austen C. Eriksen, 18, of Oakland pleaded innocent and requested a jury trial during a brief arraignment hearing in which his attorney, Sean Britton of Charleston, spoke for him. Eriksen is charged with one count of inducement to commit suicide.
That charge alleges Eriksen provided the means, in the form of the legal drug Dextromethorphan, by which Eric Richardson, 17, of Hindsboro committed suicide on Feb. 5. They were seniors at the time at Oakland High School.
On Feb. 5, concerned friends found Eriksen and Richardson in a locked pickup truck at Walnut Point State Park in Douglas County.
Richardson died at the scene as the result of an overdose of DXM, and Eriksen was hospitalized. A coroner's jury later ruled Richardson committed suicide.
At the Aug. 3 preliminary hearing for Eriksen, an Illinois State Police investigator testified a search warrant executed at Eriksen's home uncovered 19.7 grams of DXM powder. That stimulant is found in cough syrup and is dangerous in large doses.
A pretrial conference for Eriksen has been scheduled for Sept. 29, and a jury trial has been set for Oct. 18.
Link: http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2004/08/30/l...ws/latest01.txt (http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2004/08/30/latestnews/latest01.txt)