"Baskins suffered "intense" side effects including "extreme agitation, acute paranoia and insomnia," the lawsuit states, as well as a psychiatric disorder called akathisia - he simply couldn't sit still."
"He hanged himself after going days without sleep, the lawsuit says. "
![[]](../localhost/C_/Program%20Files/Eudora%20Pro/Embedded/11935c81.gif){kind=small}
State Briefs
405 words
25 August 1999
04:20
Associated Press Newswires
English
(c) 1999. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Two men charged with first-degree murder pleaded guilty instead to lesser charges in mid-trial.
Estevan "Flaco" Cortez and Ernesto Alonso Chavez were charged in the death of Josue Rojas, who was kidnapped in mid-July 1998 and was tortured over a brother's debt before being shot.
On Tuesday, Cortez, 22, pleaded guilty to kidnapping. He faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced on Sept. 27.
Chavez, 28, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison on Oct. 4.
A retrial starts Sept. 14 for Juan Leon Humar, 30, who remains accused of first-degree murder and kidnapping in Rojas' death. A mistrial was declared last month when a prosecutor mistakenly let jurors hear a recording from an earlier crime that had been precluded from Humar's case.
Two men had reported being beaten and bound by three masked men who stole their pickup about 36 hours before Rojas was found dead in the truck.
Prosecutors allege Rojas was killed because Humar, Cortez and Chavez believed his brother had stolen possibly more than $10,000 from another man. His brother had vanished and has never been found.
Rojas was beaten, blindfolded and bound before he was executed.
---
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The family of a Safford man is suing his insurance provider, claiming the man committed suicide after suffering side effects from an anti-depressant drug.
The lawsuit claims that Darren Baskins committed suicide after his health maintenance organization failed to properly manage his care by discharging him from a hospital before the psychotic side effects of the drug Zoloft were resolved.
Named as defendants are Pfizer Inc., the pharmaceutical firm that makes Zoloft, and Intergroup Prepaid Health Services of Arizona Inc.
Spokeswomen for both companies declined comment on the lawsuit, which was filed Friday.
According to the lawsuit, Baskins was a member of Intergroup when his physician prescribed Zoloft in fall 1995, and he complied with the prescription.
Zoloft and some other drugs "pose an unreasonable risk of violent and suicidal behavior for a percentage of patients," says the lawsuit on behalf of Baskins' widow and daughter.
Baskins suffered "intense" side effects including "extreme agitation, acute paranoia and insomnia," the lawsuit states, as well as a psychiatric disorder called akathisia - he simply couldn't sit still.
He hanged himself after going days without sleep, the lawsuit says.