The following article was posted on www.todaystmj4.com
Prosecutors: Benson Case May Be Tough
WAUKESHA - A former doctor charged with killing three people in a car crash was back in court Friday.
Mark Benson admitted taking prescription drugs before the crash. So why do prosecutors say it'll be a tough case?
Prosecutors say it's a lot easier to prove a driver is under the influence of alcohol than it is to prove they're under the influence of drugs. That's because there isn't a legal limit of prescription drugs.
Benson walked quietly into court for his preliminary hearing. He didn't look at Jennifer Bukosky's grieving family, but prosecutors feel his blood test results make a strong statement on their own.
The results show Benson had several prescription drugs in his system at the time of the crash.
"Xanax, Ambien, Oxycodone. The one we believe is the high amount is the Ambien," Assistant District Attorney Kevin Osbourne said.
Detectives say Benson was on his way to a pharmacy to get more pills at the time of the accident, but the pharmacist couldn't comment at all because of medical privacy laws.
After the accident, police say Benson gave them 50 prescription pills he had in his pants pocket.
Despite that, prosecutor Osbourne says this case will be tough to prove.
"It's much more difficult than an OWI case where you go, his blood alcohol level was over .08, and you're done," Osbourne said.
Osbourne says he'll bring in expert witnesses to talk about the drugs, particularly the effect of large amounts of them on a driver.
"It's all based on interpretations of the results but there's no standard to say anything over this amount and you've committed a crime. Nothing like that," Osbourne said.
Benson's attorney would not say that his client was impaired, but admitted 10 pills were missing from the two prescription bottles.
"The testimony was that the prescription bottles said 30 pills and what Mr. Benson pulled out of his pockets was 25 of each of those pills," Defense Attorney Dean Strang said.
Benson remains in custody at the Waukesha County Jail. His preliminary hearing will continue on May 30 when the state plans to call two more witnesses.
