Last-minute motions filed in Augustine death
RENO — FBI experts’ conclusion that former state Controller Kathy Augustine was killed with a paralyzing drug should not be allowed at trial because the findings cannot be independently verified, lawyers for Augustine’s widower, who is accused of killing her, say.
The claim is the latest in a series of motions filed this week by attorneys for Chaz Higgs, a critical care nurse whose murder trial is scheduled to begin June 18.
During a brief hearing Friday, Washoe District Judge Steven Kosach confirmed the trial date. He said he would hear oral arguments on the last-minute motions that morning, with jury selection to proceed in the afternoon.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Thomas Barb said he would respond to the motions in writing next week.
Prosecutors allege Higgs poisoned his wife with a fatal injection of succinylcholine, a drug used to temporarily paralyze a person before a breathing tube is inserted. FBI forensic scientists found the powerful muscle relaxant in her system.
The motion filed late Thursday by defense lawyers David Houston and Alan Baum said they were not given an opportunity to have their own experts either observe the testing of blood and urine samples taken from Augustine or conduct their own.
The defense claims succinylcholine may occur naturally “and may be found even where it has not been intentionally administered,” the motion said.
“As a result, the methods used to test the presence of intentionally administered doses of succinylcholine are hotly contested, and have not been generally accepted by the scientific or legal community as reliable and trustworthy,” the motion said.
Additionally, the lawyers claim they were only recently informed by prosecutors that there was not enough blood left for independent testing and that the urine collected “has been allowed to deteriorate.”
Doctors initially thought Augustine, 50, suffered a major heart attack when Higgs said he found her unconscious and not breathing at their Reno home on July 8.
Augustine, who was campaigning for state treasurer, lapsed into a coma and died three days later.
Acting on a tip, doctors took samples from Augustine before her death that were later tested by the FBI lab.
Higgs, 42, attempted suicide in Las Vegas three days after Augustine’s death. He was released from a hospital the same day and didn’t attend his wife’s funeral.
He was arrested Sept. 29 in the driveway of his brother’s home in Hampton, Va., after toxicology tests were complete.
Late last month, the judge refused to postpone the trial after the defense argued that the FBI lab hadn’t provided its complete report that concluded Augustine had been drugged.