CASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- The foreman of the jury that acquitted
Denver Bronco linebacker Bill Romanowski of prescription-drug fraud
says prosecutors didn't prove the player obtained a diet drug
illegally.
Jurors also didn't believe Douglas County sheriff's investigator
Jeff Grimwood, said foreman Dean Jakubczak of Highlands Ranch.
Romanowski was acquitted Friday during a trial in which
prosecutors claimed the 35-year-old linebacker obtained the
appetite suppressant phentermine from prescriptions written for his
wife, Julie, and two other people, during the 1998 season, when the
Broncos won the Super Bowl.
Investigators said Romanowski took phentermine to enhance his
play. The drug is not banned by the NFL.
The defense said Romanowski took phentermine only to suppress
his hunger before games and not to improve his play. His lawyers
also argued that investigators targeted Romanowski because of his
fame.
To make that point, the defense called Grimwood, who testified
he and another officer traded high-fives after an interview with
Dr. Randall Snook, who wrote the prescriptions.
Jakubczak said a straw poll showed jurors were split 5-7 in
favor of Romanowski at the start of deliberations. But when they
reviewed each of the four charges, jurors decided they had to clear
him.
In jurors' minds, Romanowski did not possess the drugs illegally
because the prescriptions, though written under other names, were
intended for him, Jakubczak said.
"In Dr. Snook's mind, the ultimate user was Bill Romanowski,"
he said after the four-day trial ended Friday. "Though he
possessed that drug, he possessed it legally."
Jurors also thought prosecutor Michael Spear failed to prove the
drug was illegally obtained, he said.
Snook pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge of
unlawfully dispensing a controlled substance in the case and
received 18 months of probation. He testified he knew it wasn't
legal to write the prescriptions in other people's names, but
didn't tell Romanowski or his wife that.
Julie Romanowski is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 14 on charges
that she conspired to obtain the phentermine for her husband.
Loretta Johnson, the Romanowskis' former friend, pleaded guilty
to conspiring to illegally obtain a prescription drug.
| |
|
