An ex-cop was charged with two counts of rape, assault and armed kidnapping, to which he blamed his medication for making him “unconscious.”
The former Westminster police detective, Anthony Nicholas Orban, claimed that his Zoloft antidepressant caused him to black out and was not aware of his actions.
Orban’s defense attorney, James Blatt, defended the seven charges further by explaining his client’s prescription change.
Orban had stopped taking the medication for a period of time, and then resumed taking it at full dose, which could have caused his zombie behavior and possibly psychotic break.
Orban’s victim reported he had threatened her with a gun to her mouth after unloading a round of his semi-automatic service pistol before her eyes.
He threatened to kill her if she had cried and to take her to the desert for more.
These are not acts of zombies.
These are acts of a drunk man.
Witnesses admitted to seeing Orban drink that night, and that he was looking to get laid.
His case has some substance to it, because the Zoloft prescription could have influenced lower inhibitions and motor skills-when mixed with large amounts of alcohol.
Most medications and prescriptions have warning labels to not mix with alcohol.
Even if the antidepressant was a factor in this man’s “black out,” the alcohol in his system is clearly the culprit.
The court denied his “Zoloft defense,” and the jury of eight women and four men found Orban guilty of multiple counts-rape, forced oral copulation, sexual penetration with a foreign object, making a criminal threat and a sentence enhancement of using a firearm in commission of a kidnapping.
Orban is a veteran of the Iraq war.
With the recent buzz of the “zombie” that attacked and ate another man’s face, this is another fail to add to the mess.
The man who was reported to be high on bath salts, contaminated LSD or other substances was an animal in his own way.
That man was tazered and shot repeatedly before being killed. Orban was distracted by a call on his cellphone when his victim ran free.
Zombies can’t work cellphones.
This man’s defense to blame an antidepressant was not extreme; commercials and advertisements warn against several severe side-effects, except becoming a zombie and raping young women.
Here are the factors that make this case, as the judge claimed, “baloney.”
A Zoloft warning label warning not to mix with alcohol, the common knowledge of becoming less thoughtful with alcohol consumption and the police background of Orban should grant him an insanity plea.
Orban will face a sanity hearing before sentencing.
Next time, think of something else wild. “Zombie” is getting old, when the apocalypse happens, you’ll know.
Krista Brooks is a junior journalism student and the assistant opinions editor for the Daily 49er.
