Desert Storm Veteran on Trial

Expert testifies about meds
Pharmacist one of five witnesses called before defense rests

By JUSTIN STORY, The Daily News, [email protected]/783-3256
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 11:46 AM CDT

An expert witness testified Tuesday to the possibility that Randall Creek might have experienced side effects of a prescription steroid medication for a skin rash at the moment he shot his ex-girlfriend.  Rod Richmond, a West Virginia-based pharmacist, was one of five witnesses who testified Tuesday in Creek’s defense during his trial in Warren Circuit Court. He is charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and first-degree wanton endangerment.

Creek, 43, a former deputy for the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office, is accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend, 46-year-old Debbie Rediess, on Oct. 5, 2008, in the driveway outside her home in Smiths Grove.

The defense rested its case Tuesday after calling Richmond and four other witnesses.  Entering the trial’s second week, jurors had previously heard testimony from Creek that he had been taking a dose pack of the steroid Medrol to treat a skin rash on his legs, back and abdomen.

Creek’s attorney, Sam Lowe of the Department of the Public Advocacy, has argued that Creek was under the influence of his prescription medication and not in control of his actions when he shot Rediess.  A pharmacist licensed in three states who works as a consultant with The Mackenzie Group, a Morgantown, W.Va., firm that provides expert witnesses in the pharmaceutical field for court proceedings, Richmond described Creek’s medical regimen in the days immediately before Rediess’ death.

On Sept. 29, 2008, Creek visited a doctor complaining of a skin rash, for which he was given an injection of a steroid called Kenalog and prescribed Medrol.  Evidence indicated that Creek had taken four of the Medrol tablets in the 21-pill dose pack prior to the shooting.  Richmond said that Medrol is eight times as potent as Prednisone, a steroid commonly used to treat allergic disorders, arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.  The physical side effects of Medrol can include an increase in blood sugar, cataracts, sodium retention and increased blood pressure, Richmond said.

The psychiatric side effects, though somewhat rarely experienced by patients, are wide-ranging, according to Richmond.  “Symptoms can sharply range from euphoria all the way to frank psychosis,” Richmond said.  About one in 20 patients who take Medrol experience the most severe psychiatric symptoms, and milder symptoms are witnessed in about 28 percent of patients, Richmond said.  “The higher the dose, the greater the risk,” Richmond said.

A dose of the drug, regardless of the amount, does not serve to predict when side effects will first be experienced, the severity of the side effects or how long they will last, Richmond testified.  Under cross-examination by Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron, Richmond said Medrol is a steroid commonly prescribed to treat a skin rash.

Randall Creek’s brother, Robert, 40, of Bowling Green, testified that he hosted his brother and Rediess for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and never knew Randall Creek to hurt Rediess.  During questioning from Lowe, Robert Creek said he and his brother officiated high school  football games together, but said that on the Friday before the shooting, Randall Creek was reluctant to sign a standard waiver prior to officiating a game, which he found to be odd behavior.  Robert Creek testified under questioning from Cohron that he received a phone call from his brother on Oct. 5, 2008, in which he admitted to shooting Rediess.

Phillip Resch, a former colleague of Randall Creek’s at Warren County Regional Jail, testified that he had known Creek since 1995 and was one of his best friends.  Resch said that he had several dinners with Creek and Rediess and often traveled with them.  On the day of the shooting, Resch received a phone call from Creek several moments after it happened.

“I’d say that morning he called me … he was just eerily calm and he said he was sorry this went down like that,” said Resch, who now works at the United States Penitentiary in McCreary County. “He said he loved me and ‘talk to you later.’ ”  Under cross-examination from Cohron, Resch said he received a voice mail from Creek in which he described how he believed he and Rediess were going to get back together after their relationship had ended, but ended up shooting her after a confrontation and that Creek was sure she was dead.

Patrick Solomon acted as another character witness. Solomon said his son and Creek’s son, Andre Creek, played football together.  Under questioning from Lowe, Solomon said he was aware of Creek’s relationship with Rediess and that it had ended in the summer of 2008, testifying that Creek told him the couple had decided to go their separate ways.  Solomon admitted under questioning from Cohron to being one of the recipients of an e-mail from Creek sent Oct. 6, 2008, while he was on the run from police, in which he admitted to “assassinating” Rediess.

Richard Hammer of Tompkinsville, who served with Creek in the Kentucky National Guard, said he kept in touch with Creek frequently, but was only “vaguely” aware of Rediess and did not know about the breakup.

Psychologist talks about evaluating Creek Cohron called Dr. Stephen Free to the stand in the prosecution’s effort to rebut the defense’s case.  Free, a psychologist with the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Institute, interviewed   Creek on Aug. 5, 2009, during an evaluation of Creek’s competency to stand trial.  The interview lasted about two hours and 45 minutes, Free said, and he testified that Creek seemed to have clear memories of the events surrounding Rediess’ shooting and his actions in the event.

“He said he was driving to church and he decided to divert and go to his former girlfriend’s home,” Free said.  Creek then told Free he knocked on the door, had a one-sided conversation with Rediess and ended up shooting her.  Free testified that Creek recalled shooting Rediess additional times after the initial wound to the head.  “At any point in time did he mention an Iraqi soldier?” Cohron asked, referring to Creek’s testimony on Friday that the Gulf War veteran imagined seeing an Iraqi soldier where Rediess was standing when he fired his service weapon.  Free said that during “table talk” prior to the interview, Creek mentioned that the events were like he had shot an Iraqi soldier in the head.

Under cross-examination from Lowe, Free repeated what Creek mentioned about the Iraqi soldier in his interview, and also testified being told by Creek that   he had been having nightmares since his deployment to the Middle East for Operation Desert Storm in 1991.  

The trial resumes Thursday with closing arguments.