Juan Carlos Martínez Simarro, 51, was found. He died at his home in Xirivella, Valencia, on March 11, 2018. Anything without any external signs of violence, alcohol problems, and a medical history of hypertension and diabetes initially indicated a natural death. However, the autopsy Valencia Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML) and more specifically the report Barcelona National Institute of Toxicologyfound very high levels of trazodone, the active ingredient in antidepressant drugs, at more than three times the maximum therapeutic dose, thus proving it to be a drug. possible violent death of toxic origin.
Investigations coordinated by the Mislata No. 1 Civil Court of First Instance finally brought the widow of the victim to court, who was accused of willful homicide, after giving the news of her death several times, without saying that she meant her husband’s life. give him a medicine called Deprax, without any prescription or medical supervision, “with obvious carelessness and without taking into account the physical deterioration it creates”According to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, it is seeking four years’ imprisonment for the defendants.
The IML coroner explained this Wednesday at a hearing in a criminal court in Valencia. The concentration of trazodone in the blood of the deceased was 3.72 mg/l.triple the dose that can be taken without the risk of toxicity, which would be equivalent to about twelve tablets, as the defendant continued throughout the investigation, and also this Wednesday, he said. She gave him only half a pill a day to rest her husband, before he went to sleep.
The toxicology report found a concentration of trazodone at levels three times the maximum dose.
The woman’s defense, on the other hand, requests her acquittal free of charge, given that it has not been proven that her client’s husband died as a direct result of using the above-mentioned antidepressants. the dose it offers is “toxic but not lethal”, as the chemistry expert provided by the stated defense at the oral hearing. In any event, if the death was caused by this overdose, aggravated by the pathologies presented by the victim, the lawyer suggested as an alternative argument a hypothetical suicide or overdose because the man could not sleep.
Therefore, one of the key issues resolved in the trial was determining whether Juan Carlos’ wife would have access to the drug in question, which he usually gave, or whether Juan Carlos could access it. night sitter – Unable to even testify as a witness-. The defendant initially realized that her husband would not be able to get up on his own, but yesterday she explained that her husband could reach the dresser in the room, which was very close to her bed. immorality.
Therefore, regarding the possibility that her husband had voluntarily decided to take his own life, the woman explained that she had never told her that she wanted to commit suicide, although she admitted that her alcohol-related problems had worsened since she was fired in September 2016. “If I didn’t give him alcohol, he would become aggressive”depressed, bedridden and not receiving a pension.
She admits that she gave it to her without a prescription or consulting a doctor because her husband had taken it before.
The accused admits that she started giving the drug to her husband in October 2017. “For her to sleep better because I was doing well and she would rest like me”. She also admits that she never consulted a specialist because her husband had taken it before and she never thought it was harmful to her. The doctor who prescribed the same antidepressant to the person who died in 2008 – ten years before his death – stated that he replaced it with another similar drug in 2016, not because it made him feel bad, but because the patient complained that he was still not resting. well.
Regarding a possible economic motive, the National Police ruled out that hypothesis and any intentionality in the death. no policy or death insurance a case in which the defendant may benefit from the death of her husband.