By
JOHN HOLLIS,
KATHY JEFCOATS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/16/07
Nearly two months after the murder-suicide of pro wrestler Chris Benoit and his wife and son, local and federal authorities are still investigating whether Dr. Phil Astin III overprescribed drugs to Benoit and other patients, including a wrestler who died last year.
Law enforcement officials and Astin's lawyer expect further indictments against the Carrollton physician, who already faces federal charges of overprescribing medications.
We anticipate that a superseding indictment will be obtained by the U.S. attorney in the near future," said one of Astin's defense attorneys, Carrollton-based Kevin Drummond.
Capt. Mike Pruitt of the Fayette County Sheriff's Office drug task force, which is conducting the joint investigation with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, confirmed that further charges are possible. A superseding indictment would replace the existing one and add additional charges.
Pruitt stressed that the investigation centers on whether Astin overprescribed for any of his patients, including former wrestler Michael Durham, a former Benoit workout partner.
"Anybody he's overprescribing, we're looking at," Pruitt said.
Astin, who is under house arrest in Carrollton after being released on $150,000 bond, has been indicted on seven counts of overprescribing medications to at least two unidentified patients. Officials have said Benoit is not one of those patients.
Durham, a Peachtree City resident, was 41 at the time of his Feb. 16, 2006, death in Tyrone. An autopsy report attributes the cause of death to heart disease and obesity — Durham carried 349 pounds on a 6-foot frame — but also cited the toxic levels of Soma, a powerful muscle relaxer, and the painkiller hydrocodone as contributing factors. Astin had filled a prescription for Durham the day before he died, said Capt. Brandon Peters of the Tyrone Police Department.
All 120 of the 350-milligram Soma pills in the prescription were missing by the time of Durham's death, Peters said.
Durham's widow, Penny Bordeau, has criticized Astin, calling the doctor "a suburban drug dealer."
"Mike had sleep apnea, asthma and an enlarged heart," she said. "There was no reason to be giving him muscle relaxers when he was so unhealthy. Dr. Astin should have been trying to help keep him alive."
Astin has been unavailable for comment. But another of Astin's attorneys, Atlanta-based Manny Arora, denied any link between the doctor and Durham's death.
"I'm sorry [Durham] died," he said, "but I can't see how that's Dr. Astin's fault."
Drummond, Astin's other attorney, declined to comment.
"I cannot answer questions about specific patients for obvious reasons," Drummond said.
At the time he died, Durham was separated from his wife and staying at the home of former wrestling manager Eric Zinck.
Zinck, 37, once managed the wrestling careers of Durham and Ted Petty, a duo that made up Public Enemy. Petty died in 2004 from a heart attack he suffered while driving along the New Jersey Turnpike.
Zinck says he and Durham used to work out together with Benoit.
It was Zinck who referred Durham to Astin.
"I told him, 'He'll take care of you,' " Zinck said. "He was compassionate to our profession, but it wasn't like he had the hook-up. That's not the way we looked at it."
Zinck says many wrestlers don't have health insurance. He said Astin was sympathetic and bypassed costly diagnostic tests and X-rays and went straight to prescribed medications. Zinck said Astin's method of treating wrestlers was formulaic: the tranqulizer Xanax, painkillers and muscle relaxers.
"It is the doc's blueprint," he said.
The toxicology report for Benoit, who visited Astin's office the day before his death, showed normal levels of Xanax and hydrocodone. Benoit's wife, Nancy, also had used Xanax and painkillers before her death, the report said. In addition, their 7-year-old son Daniel had high levels of Xanax in his blood.
Benoit's autopsy report also showed elevated levels of testosterone, although there's no indication that played any role in the slaying of his wife and son, said Dr. Kris Sperry, Georgia's chief medical examiner.
A search warrant last month said, "Dr. Astin has been identified as prescribing, on average, a 10-month supply of anabolic steroids to Mr. Benoit every three to four weeks from May 4, 2006 through May 9, 2007."
Lex Luger, the former hulking wrestler and self-professed steroid and drug abuser who has since become a man of strong religious faith, said he, too, was an Astin patient at one time. Now living in Cherokee County, Luger said there were doctors whom all the wrestlers knew to call when they needed something.
Luger, who first heard of Astin from a friend while working out in a gym, said Astin prescribed him Soma and hydrocodone in 2004. But the medicines, Luger insisted, were only for therapeutic purposes.
The man formerly known as "The Total Package" was adamant that Astin did not overprescribe to him.
"He was nothing but professional to me," Luger said. "He's just a good country doctor. I have nothing but good things to say about him."
Authorities see it differently.
"He's going to have to justify his medical decisions," said Mitch Mitchelson, a former U.S. attorney for Florida who specializes in defense of government investigations. "At the end of the day, it's going to come down to whether the drugs he prescribed were way out of proportion."
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