The defense has given us notice that they are going to use Dr. George Glass, a psychiatrist from Houston, in a murder case to opine that alochol consumption by a diabetic not taking insulin can result in bizarre behavior. Our victim was an alcoholic diabetic and the defense is going to rely on self-defense. Has anyone heard of him or have any ideas re a source for some rebuttal expert testimony?

Oops, never mind, I misread the part about the victim being an alcoholic diabetic and thought this was about the defendant, which didn't make much sense as a defense.

Elizabeth Foley
Asst. Crim. D.A.
Galveston County

[This message was edited by E. Foley on 11-02-04 at .]

Is your autopsy any help in rebutting the idea that he was having some sort of alcoholic/diabetic problem? Perhaps your M.E. can say that a person in his condition would not have been under the influence of any sugar level issues.

The victim was the alcoholic diabetic. Unfortunately, the autopsy didn't help much because our defendant decided to burn the body in an outside burn pile after (hopefully) our victim died. Not much left of the body. The defense lawyer is going to use the "Durst" (sp?) defense we suspect.

The victim was .26 so he was loaded. Unable to test for insulin with what was left of the body according to the M.E. The defendant is going to testify that our victim had not taken his insulin and kinda went crazy so there we go.....

Mike, who did your autopsy? If y'all used Harris County M.E. you might want to talk to Dr. Mozayani (their chief toxicologist). If she can't help you she might be able to point you in the right direction.

Incidentally, is a psychiatrist qualified to give an expert opinion upon the effects of alcohol upon a diabetic? Seems a little outside his area of expertise.

We use Dr. Brown with Jefferson County and he's working on it for us... Lee, I agree with your assessment re a psych testifying in this area and we are going to try to knock out the testimony before it gets to the jury but our judge is really cautious. We're just trying to have plan B ready.

Since you say the guy is an alcoholic, I assume that he drinks on a regular basis. Do you have any witnesses who can testify, for example, that he has never previously acted in the way that the defendant suggests. It seems to me that, given the same circumstances in the past, perhaps numerous times, it would be hard to swallow that this was the only time he ever reacted the way the claim he does, and your defense expert's opinion could perhaps be attacked if he failed to collect any medical history regarding prior incidents of alcohol use in conjunction with a failure to properly medicate.

I have faxed some info to Jessica Chavez in Dallas about him. If you need a transcript, call me at 713.755.5605.

Glass is listed as an expert in a capital I'm in now. I think he may be testifying next week. I haven't found much on him but he seems to be popular. I don't have any alcohol involved, In fact, my defendant, a woman, denies even being present at the murders. I suspect he is going to testify about her bizarre behavior the night of the murders and for several days afterwards.

"Dr." George Glass testified in our murder case as expected. He backed off of his anticipated testimony that diabetics who haven't been taking their insulin and who drink heavily will engage in bizarre behavior. Come to think of it... I seem to recall (from my "early" years prior to meeting my Southern Baptist wife) that most everybody engages in a bit of bizarre behavior after drinking heavily. In essence, his testimony in our case was that people who drink large amounts of alcohol are more likely to be violent...... go figger. After one of my talented assistants cross-examined him and administered a sound thrashing, she argued at closing that he could have phoned that opinion in and saved the taxpayers a ton of money. By the way, Glass was contacted by the defense attorney through "a service" (probably with a red light at the door) and "the service" charged 500 big ones an hour for his time and travel... 250 an hour for prep time. Glass was very ineffective on the stand. I'll have a transcript (courtesy of our insightful and justice-minded jury, a hungry appellate lawyer, and, of course, our taxpayers) in the near future and I'll be happy to provide it to all interested folks who do the Lord's work. Many thanks to Janette, Elizabeth, Lee, Tuck, Warren, Wes, et al, who responded to my post and provided assistance to us.