Violent Attack Effexor 17/12/2005 New York 20 Year Old Attacks Father with Ax
Summary:
Paragraph 8 reads: "Jeror had been prescribed twice the recommended dosage of the powerful anti-depressant Effexor, which is not supposed to be prescribed to teens and is under wide scrutiny in the legal and psychiatric communities".
Paragraph 22 reads: "Upon further questioning, Eric said, 'I don't know what happened. I just blanked out.'"
http://www.pressrepublican.com/Archive/2005/12_2005/121720053.htm
Man held in ax attack to get psychiatric help
By DENISE A. RAYMO, Staff Writer
MALONE -- The young man who attacked his father with an ax a year ago will likely receive in-patient psychiatric help rather than serve time in state prison for attempted murder.
Eric Jeror, 20, of Lake Titus was sentenced to a mental-health facility for treatment by Franklin County Court Judge Robert G. Main Jr.
The length of stay will be determined following an examination by the office of the State Commissioner of Mental Health.
The decision was made after the judge made a thorough review of information supplied to him by District Attorney Derek Champagne and Defense Attorney Joseph Nichols.
A grand jury indicted Jeror in September for second-degree attempted murder and first-degree attempted assault.
A month later, he pleaded not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect, claiming he did not know what he was doing when he attacked his father, Keith Jeror, at the family home at 12653 State Route 30 on Jan. 16, 2005.
In papers supplied to Main, Champagne spelled out the evidence and related information that had accumulated during the extensive State Police investigation of the case.
Jeror had been prescribed twice the recommended dosage of the powerful anti-depressant Effexor, which is not supposed to be prescribed to teens and is under wide scrutiny in the legal and psychiatric communities.
He also smoked marijuana daily.
One of Jeror's doctors told the boy's mother, Lori, that as long as it kept him calm, the pot smoking was OK.
But, Champagne said in the documents, the advice to combine pot use and Effexor "seems to clearly cause concern."
The paperwork states that Jeror was "a superior student until his 10th grade wherein he experienced a complete destruction of his academic career."
Since then, he has had suicidal tendencies and had verbally threatened to kill his father but never acted on it.
That day, Lori Jeror said in her police statement, her son had gotten up about noon and told her he was going to kill his father when the older man got home.
She said the boy was quiet all day and that when her husband came home at 3:45 p.m., Eric went to his room and began to play the guitar.
Lori said she heard her son go outside then a short time later, she heard three "thud" sounds.
She saw Eric holding an ax when she ran into the kitchen and he then moved toward her. As she tried to get out of the house to safety, Lori saw her husband "bleeding profusely."
Eric caught up with her in the front yard. As they struggled and her son tried to drag her back into the house, he told her, "I don't want to hurt you, mom."
Suddenly he stopped struggling, dropped the ax and said, "Mom, I love you. I don't know what happened."
Eric, barefoot and wearing a T-shirt in zero-degree weather, crawled into the family Jeep and waited there until police arrived.
Investigators said upon arrival, Eric had a terrified look on his face and was saying "It's messed up. It's messed up."
He had blood on his pants and T-shirt and told officers where to find the ax, saying, "I didn't want to hurt her." Upon further questioning, Eric said, "I don't know what happened. I just blanked out."
Investigators said that goes along with what his mother said.
Lori told investigators that just moments after the ax attack and their struggle, her son "just seemed to snap out of it."
The court documents state that neither parent wanted Eric to go to prison, and that they had repeatedly tried to get him treatment in the past.
Other police interviewed said Eric was passive and non-aggressive yet generally a depressed person who felt life is pointless.
He has been unable or unwilling to adapt to life behind bars, having spent nearly a year in the County Jail. Sending the young man to state prison "would likely lead the defendant down a path of no return."