Defense asks jury to find Chua not guilty

John Garland, one of the defense attorneys for Noel Chua, began closing arguments Friday afternoon to jurors by explaining the responsibility they face when the weigh the evidence presented during the past five days.

He told jurors they will find Chua not guilty after considering the evidence.

The prosecution, he said, must prove the charges and show Chua was not acting as a doctor trying to treat a patient.

"We're not talking about Dr. Chua being better or worse than other physicians," he said.

The drugs prescribed by Chua were "not outside the bounds" of normal medical practice.

Chua honestly exercised good medical judgment when he treated Jamie Carter III in the months before his overdose death from drugs prosecutors say were prescribed for no apparent medical reason.

"When Dr. Chua prescribed these medications, it was simply to try and treat Jamie Carter's headaches," he said.

Carter's death was not foreseeable, he said.

The entirety of the state's case against Chua "rests on circumstantial evidence," he said.

Testimony proved Chua, acting as a doctor, was trying to help a patient with medically approved treatments.

Attorney Donald Samuel continued closing arguments for the defense by saying some of the evidence was "remarkably difficult to understand."

He told jurors the verdict they will reach will be "the most important decision of your life."

Samuel told jurors the issue is not about Chua's ability to keep accurate medical records.

"It makes absolutely no difference if a doctor keeps no records or sloppy records," he told jurors. It's not a crime to keep sloppy or incomplete medical records, he told jurors.

The trial is not about a doctor's code of professional responsibility, he said.

Every prescription to Carter was signed by Chua, he said.

If Chua was a drug dealer, he didn't have to write a prescription, Samuel said. Chua could have given Carter some of the drugs investigators found in the doctor's desk drawer.

The prosecution has not proved Chua intentionally tried to murder Carter, Samuel told jurors.

Carter was prescribed "every single drug" listed in the indictment by other physicians before Chua treated the patient, he said.

There was also evidence presented during the trial that Carter got drugs from other sources while under Chua's care, he said.

It is only when a person abandons his role as a doctor that a jury can find Chua guilty of a crime, he said.

The dosages for drugs prescribed to Carter by Chua were less than the maximum dosages he could have legally recommended, Samuel said.

Medical experts testifying on behalf of the defense all said the drugs prescribed by Chua were appropriate to treat Carter's headaches, he said.

Chua had no obligation to force Carter to take drugs that weren't working, he said.

"He was trying to figure out the best way to treat pain," he said.

Chua was not indicted for keeping patients' drugs they returned in his office because it's not a crime, he told jurors. Instead, the drugs found in his office showed Chua insisted patients return unused drugs before he'd write another prescription, which Samuel said was "the prudent thing to do."

Chua had no way to know Carter had additional drugs the day he died besides methadone, Samuel said.

What the state wants jurors to believe is Chua was supposed to know what was in Carter's blood.

"He didn't know he had morphine in his blood, or oxycodone in his blood," he said.