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Published Thursday, January 22, 2009 in Local

Newnan trial set for dead wrestler's doctor

By Elizabeth Richardson

The Times-Herald

The high-profile case involving Dr. Phil Astin III -- the Carrollton physician accused of illegally dispensing prescription medication to numerous patients, including WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, leading up to the Benoit double murder/suicide in Fayetteville on June 22, 2007 -- will be heard at Newnan's Lewis Morgan Federal Building before U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp.

Astin's trial was originally scheduled to begin this week in federal court, but Astin was granted a 90-day continuance from Judge Camp. His trial is now scheduled for March 16. However, a change of plea hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 29 at 10 a.m. before Camp at Newnan's federal courthouse. Astin is scheduled to change his plea from not guilty, according to U.S. Attorney's Office Public Affairs Officer Patrick Crosby.

According to published reports, the Benoit family physician was indicted in July 2007, with more charges being added in May 2008. Astin is charged with 175 federal counts of illegally prescribing prescription medication to 17 different individuals.

Those charges are made up of 150 counts of illegal prescription abuse. At least six of these patients are believed to be professional wrestlers, including ones working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The illegal prescriptions were reportedly for Percocet, Oxycontin, Demerol, Lorcet, Ritalin, Vicodin, Xanax, Adderall and Soma.

According to the indictment, two of the 17 individuals Astin is accused of illegally prescribing medication to are Oscar Gutierrez -- better known as Rey Mysterio -- and former WWE wrestler Mark Jindrak. The indictment includes previous criminal charges related to distributing painkillers and other drugs to Gutierrez and Jindrak.

According to published reports, the indictment likely also identifies pro-wrestlers Buff Bagwell -- whose real name is Marcus Alexander Bagwell -- and Hardcore Holly -- or Robert William Howard.

According to Astin's indictment, the physician prescribed drugs to Chris Benoit from December 2004 until June 2007, when Benoit killed his wife and son before taking his own life. The indictment also notes that Nancy Benoit, Chris' wife, regularly received prescriptions for Lorcet, Xanax and Somas from June 2005 to May 2007.

According to published reports, the prosecution is also claiming that Astin's prescriptions led to the death of a patient, believed to be Mike "Johnny Grunge" Durham, on Feb. 16, 2006. Dr. Astin was the primary physician of Durham, and he wrote 32 of the 36 prescriptions written for Durham during the last year of his life.

The investigation into Astin's medical practices was launched because of the death of Chris, Nancy and Daniel Benoit.

Astin has not been charged with anything relating to steroids even though Chris' steroid levels were high at the time of his death -- the toxicology report showed that Benoit's testosterone levels were 10 times above the normal level. Investigators also reportedly found several packages of steroids in Benoit's Fayetteville home.