Lawyer Using Robitussin-Induced Insanity Defense

[void]

The Associated Press:

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A 19-year-old former National Honor Society member has been accused of robbing a gas station and leading police on a high-speed chase.

Karl Leonard's attorney says his client's recreational use an over-the-counter cold medicine made him temporarily insane.

Leonard's father also blamed his son's actions on his use of dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant found in Robitussin DM.

"He did what he did and he was part of it, but he didn't really know what the hell he was doing," Brant Leonard told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a Friday story. "He just was ... stoned on this dextromethorphan."

In a motion filed in Grand Traverse County Circuit Court, defense attorney William Rasmussen wrote, "Continued excessive usage of these drugs causes a zombie-like stage that allows individuals to function but affects the normal decision-making process."

Karl Leonard faces trial April 20 on charges of trying to rob an Acme convenience store on Dec. 4. If convicted of armed robbery, he could face between 35 months and life in prison. One of two co-defendants is negotiating a plea bargain, the newspaper said.

READ MORE:
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/in...68782150791.xml (http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1076668782150791.xml)
http://www.record-eagle.com/2004/feb/13cough.htm

[libel]

Think this defense has been used with alcohol and the such?
Bah.

[AbsurdityOfLife]

Thats great... using the DXM defense on you're 4/20 trial!

[_Swey_]

I would tell them the voices told me to do it. Iv heard voices while robo trippig HARD. like 900 Mg. while i was temporataly out of my stupor they convinved me too pee in my trash can because my parents where outside ready to grade me on my walking, but i could barely stand for 40 seconds. I could just see stuff before it happend that whole night

[MR_AK]

maybe the voices did tell him to do it... :O ?!?!?!?!

[Somparetheit]

This idiocy is sickeing me.

[levomethorphan]

I always thought that diminished capacity due to intoxication wasn't a valid defense if the intoxication was voluntary.

[druggedupdork]

Originally posted by levomethorphan@Feb 14 2004, 04:45 PM
I always thought that diminished capacity due to intoxication wasn't a valid defense if the intoxication was voluntary.
according to my law teacher, its not.

[Ahuramazda]

ITS NEVER THE ONE WHO DOES THE CRIME's FAULT

ITS NOT THE PARENTS FAULT

ITS THE DXM!!!! HE DID IT




the major hole in the defense - the kid took full responsibility of everything he did and soon as he downed that syrup - thats part of the deal - and he knew it unless he took it by accident

[elven darkness]

yeah he should take responsibility and go through drug rehab if his dxm abuse is what is causing this. i'm not saying he shouldn't be punished because he should be, but the problem seems to be here that his dxm abuse has taken him way too far and now he needs to pay the penalty and learn a lesson, but might need help with his drug habit.

i might rob a gas station if i was desperate enough and dxm can be a logical arguement for why he went through with it but he needs to be punished regardless.

[starla]

His father is in Major Denial.
The boy knew EXACTLY what he was doing.
And that's what scares him.

[Pompeii]

Okay, listen carefully.

I am a close friend of Karl Leonard's and somehow I stumbled across this article after he did all this stuff. What the article doesn't tell you is that he was on the stuff for a week straight. Every day he'd take 2 boxes of CCC's and just get all fried out with his friend Spencer. Spencer and some other kid were the ones who robbed the place. Karl just sat in the car. Honestly, I knew the kid as well as I'd know my own brother. He wasn't the type of person to do anything like this. No matter how much heat this can cause, I will sat it anyway: He was on a fucking DISOCIATIVE for crying out loud. You'd do fucked up things too if you were on the drug for a long time and never recooped. Not only that but the media also fails to mention how he wasn't the one in the store robbing them. So to those of you who said 'the boy knew what he was doing', here's a big fuck you to all of your ignorant asses. Make sure you get the whole story before you assume things. The media doesn't always give all the details.

Bogner Übershall
:chug:

[House]

Originally posted by Pompeii@Feb 23 2004, 12:29 AM
So to those of you who said 'the boy knew what he was doing', here's a big fuck you to all of your ignorant asses. Make sure you get the whole story before you assume things. The media doesn't always give all the details.


He didn't know he was taking a dissociative?
He didn't know taking THAT much was a terrible idea?

If he didn't, he shouldn't have touched the stuff.
End of story.

Don't blame drugs for your mistakes, blame yourself.

And it's a good thing the media DIDN'T report this guy taking two boxes of Coricidin daily, because if you were offended by what was said before, your head would explode with the things that could've been said.

-EDIT-
PS. Also, anyone who accompanies someone committing a crime is automatically guilty by association, regardless of state of mind (just so you know, I understand he didn't rob it, but he didn't stop it either). Law, it's a crazy thing.

[Pompeii]

My only point was that he sat in the car totally clueless as to what was going on. He didn't know they were robbing the store. And if he did, he would have been too fucked up to stop them anyway. Think about it though... You could be driving along with your friends one night and one of them says to you "Pull over at this Shell. I gotta take a squeege." and all of a sudden you're in jail for armed robbery. I'm fairly sure that he didn't have a clue as to what was going on at the time because from what he told me, they came running out of the store and told him to drive out of there as fast as he could. His friends were shit and they basically used him for his car. Spencer would always be calling us up having us come pick his ass up for some reason. I guess Karl picked the wrong night to drive him somewhere.

Bogner Übershall
:puke: