Severson trial focuses on drug tampering

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

The trial of Larry Severson, charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Mary, entered its third week last week with the prosecution continuing to focus its case on drug levels in Mary Severson's body at the time of her death, and the possibility that Larry Severson had tampered with some of her Hydroxycut "fat blocker" pills by putting Drano in them.

Severson is accused by the state of overdosing his wife on sleeping pills on the night of Feb. 14/15 and then smothering her. He also faces a second charge of tampering with her over-the-counter Hydroxycut capsules with the intent to poison her.

The defense is not expected to begin its rebuttal case until at least next week, or the week after.

Last week's testimony began on Monday when Defense Attorney Ed Frachiseur opened his cross-examination of Dr. Gary Dawson, a pharmacologist who had previusly testified for the state that the levels of two sleeping pills found in Mary Severson's blood after her death, the prescription drug Ambien and an over-the-counter drug, Unisom, were at the low end of a possible fatal dose.

Dawson said the levels of a drug in the bloodstream depend on how long it had been taken and whether or not it had been taken on an empty stomach. He said the Ambien had probably been taken with food and had been in the stomach one-and-a-half to two hours prior to her death some time before 3 a.m. on Feb. 15, when Larry Severson reported finding her not breathing on their living room couch.

On redirect examination by the prosecutors, Dawson said the levels of the drug found in her body were not leathal and that there were very few deaths due to an overdose of that drug on record. Even a very high overdose would most likely cause hospitalization, but not death, he said. Death would most likely result from a combination of something else.

The state then moved on to question Carol Diaz, Mary's mother, about the early history of Mary and Larry, and in particular the time in from Aug. 15, when Mary, upset over the problems she was having in her marriage, returned to the Diaz home in Grand Junction, Colo., as part of a separation from her husband.

She said during that time that Mary took Hydroxycut and long walks to help her lose weight so she would be more attractive to her husband, and paxil to combat her depression.

After Mary returned to Mountain Home in December to try to make her marriage work, she talked on the phone with Diaz a number of times, and Diaz also said she had talked with Larry during that time period.

On Feb. 11, Diaz said, she talked to Mary, who sounded tired and they talked about the different colors of the Hydroxycut. Diaz, a nurse, advised her not to take them, that they might have been tampered with.

After Mary's death Diaz and flown to Mountain Home to help make funeral arrangements. She said that while sitting at the dining room table at the couple's house she asked Larry if Mary had any life insurance, and he said no. Diaz said he appeared shocked when he found out she did have a policy and that she, Carol Diaz, was the beneficiary. She said Larry walked into the living room and told someone to "call J. Clark," his attorney.

John Banks, and field agent for the Food and Drug Administration stationed in Boise, testified that he had been contacted on Feb. 4 by Mike Severson, Larry's son, about a possible contamination of some Hydroxycut capsules Mary had been taking.

On Feb. 6, he said, he discussed the matter with Mary and urged her to discontinue taking them.

He then went to Larry's Auto Works business where he met Mike and Larry, who showed him two bottles of Hydroxycut, one opened and one not, as well as pictures taken by Mary's local doctor of her stomach showing stomach ulcers.

Inside the opened bottle Banks said he found some pills with a brownish color (normal) and some with a greenish color that were "somewhat degraded." He said Larry offered to let him have the opened bottle of pills, but didn't want him to take the unopened bottle, on the advice of his attorney.

Banks said FDA policy was to take all or none, so he left them. He then purchased some Hydroxycut bottles as a "control" with the same lot number from the GNC store in the Boise mall where Mary had purchased hers.

He later contacted the sheriff's office and learned Mary had died. On Feb. 25 he took some of the pills, bottles and wrappers that had been seized as evidence for analysis.

The pills were sent ot FDA analytical chemist John Urban for testing.

Urban testified that the contents of the greenish capsules appeared to have properties similar to Drano, including Green #7 coloring, which is proprietary to the company that makes Drano, but refused to state for certain that it was, although he did indicate there was a probability that it was Drano.

He also said that he checked the "intact" bottle for evidence of tampering and found that the safety shrink wrap did not line up properly as it should, and that tests of the inner seal showed it was stuck to the bottle (it should have been loose) with a material similar to superglue.

He also said a blue trash can taken from Auto Works also contained residue similar to Drano and some capsule shell fragments.

FDA reserach chemist Dauglas Heitkemper said that in both bottles he inspected there were both greenish and brown pills and that superglue had apparently been used to reseal both the exterior safety shrinkwrap and the inner seal.

George Porter, the quality control manager for HBL, the manufacturer of Hydroxycut, described in detail the safety procedures used in making the capsules and said it was "highly improbable" that the bottles could have been contaminted at the plant, or even in distribution. Leda Christian, the owner of the GNC store in the mall where Mary bought the capusles, said also that it was unlikely, in her opinion, that the pills had been tampered with prior to their sale, describing the security measures and employee training at the store in detail.

Dr. John Welch of Glenns Ferry described his treatment of Mary for ulcers, her depression and sleeping problems in January and February, explaining he had prescribed Prevacid and then Nexium, as well as Ambien to help her sleep.

On Feb. 7, he said, Larry Severson had come to his office with some pills that were of two different colors, asking if he would analyze them, but Welch said he didn't have the facilities to do it.

On Feb. 14, he said, Larry called his office to say that the sleeping pills had been working well for Mary and they didn't want to run out, so would he refill the prescription.

Jan Atkinson, the senior compliance officer with the Idaho State Board of Pharmacy, testified that she had been contacted on Feb. 1 by Larry Severson regarding his concerns that some Hydroxycut capsules had been tampered with, but she told him it wasn't in her jurisdiction and referred him to Banks, the FDA agent in Boise.

FDA Special Agent David Bournd, who at the time handled criminal investigations for the Idaho area from his office in San Francisco, testified that Larry Severson had reported on Feb. 8 a problem with Hydroxycut.

There had been not previous reports of Hydroxycut tampering and so he began an investigation in coordination with the Sheriff's Office, sending the items taken by Banks to the lab for analysis.

He said that he and Det. Wolfe met with Larry at his attorney's office and learned where the pills had been purchased. He said Larry told him Mary had always been a careful shopper who alwasy inspected safety seals. Larry told him after Mary had opened the first bottle "she became sick within a week." He then took 12 of the capsules apart and took them to Dr. Welch, but couldn't find a place to have them tested. He said he had taken the bottles to his business to keep them secure, and later gave them to Clark.

Under cross-examination, Bournd said that he wasn't sure if Larry had told him that he had taken the pills to his shop to examine them.

He said that once the investigation moved from a consumer complaint to a possible murder investigation his office did not pursue the matter any further.

Det. Wolfe also concluded her testimony on the stand, describing her intial involvement and searches in the case and the pill bottles that she said appeared to have been tampered with because the safety seal did not line up, and said the greenish pills appeared to her to contain Drano, a product she used at home.

She provided an extensive list of pills found at the Severson home and when asked by the defense if she had found "lots of drugs all over the house and losts of empty packets," admitted that "yes, there was."

Testimony contined this week, beginning Monday, and is expected to last for several more weeks.

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