Nearly half a decade after Dr. Louis Chen was charged with the murder of his partner and 2-year-old son, new court documents reveal that his attorneys intend to argue that his use of over-the-counter cough syrup contributed to his psychosis.
The court suspected prescription-drug abuse and a looming child-custody battle to be the motives behind the deaths of Chen's longtime partner Eric Cooper, 29, and their son, whose bodies were found in their 17th floor apartment in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood back in August 2011.
At the time of Chen's arrest, his defense team announced that they will pursue an insanity or diminished capacity defense at trial but the basis for the said defense remained unknown.
That is, until Chen's attorneys filed a motion in October claiming that their client was suffering from cough syrup-induced psychosis as a result of a toxic buildup of the drug dextromethorphan in his system. The motion further stated that the drug metabolized slowly in Chen due to his genetic makeup as a Taiwanese.
The cough syrup defense was said to have been revealed largely to bar an expert witness, a former state forensic scientist and now the head of the State Patrol Crime Lab in Seattle, from testifying against the 43-year-old Seattle doctor who was charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder last April.
It is still unclear if the defense will stand in court as it seems that it has never been used in a murder trial in Seattle.
University of Washington Law Professor Mary Fan, who is not connected with the case, said that in her experience, she has "definitely heard of induced psychosis through taking various drugs" but never a criminal act induced by cough syrup. However, Fan confirmed that cough syrup can indeed produce a high and like any abused drug, can lead to intoxication.
