The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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October 28, 2009

Columbus murder trial case to go to jury

By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

COLUMBUS, Kan. — Robert Jarman’s psychiatrist on Wednesday described “a pretty potent cocktail” of prescriptions Jarman was taking that could impair him.

The drugs were prescribed by the psychiatrist, a family doctor and at least one other doctor, defense attorney Sam Marsh said outside the courtroom during a break in the trial.

Robert Jarman, 46, is on trial for second-degree murder in the Aug. 22, 2007, shooting death of his wife, Suzanne Jarman, in a bedroom at their home just outside Columbus. Suzanne Jarman was 42. A tape of the 911 call made by Robert Jarman was played earlier this week for the jury. In it, he said he was handing a shotgun from a gun safe to his wife, and the shotgun went off.

Marsh called his final witness Wednesday afternoon. Marsh and Assistant Attorney General Barry Disney will make closing remarks this morning before the case goes to the jury.

Jarman’s psychiatrist, Dr. William Klontz, of Joplin, Mo., took the stand Wednesday. He reviewed Jarman’s prescriptions, which included antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications; narcotic painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone; sedatives; medication for high blood pressure; blood thinner; an inhaled steroid; and muscle relaxant.

“This is an impressive list of medications,” Klontz said.

Klontz said he treated Jarman for generalized anxiety and depression. Under questioning by Marsh, Klontz said many of the drugs individually could cause impaired judgment, impaired coordination and reflexes, and sedation, and that some were likely to cause impairment.

“Individually, the drugs have side effects,” Klontz said. “In combination, nobody can accurately say what these drugs are going to do. We get into a level of complexity that is absolutely unpredictable.”

He continued: “One would think that would be a pretty potent cocktail.”

Under questioning by Disney, Klontz said though the drugs could have impaired Jarman, he didn’t know that they did.

Jarman’s primary physician, Dr. Darcy Selenke, testified about Jarman’s respiratory problems and the medications she had prescribed. She said she had prescribed a medication to reduce nausea, which was a side effect of a pain medication.

Jarman’s pharmacist, Evan McNemar, provided the list of prescriptions. He said Jarman had been in to pick up a prescription on the day of the shooting. The prescription included oxycodone and lorazepam, which McNemar said was a new drug for Jarman.

Lorazepam is an anti-anxiety drug.

Carly Jarman, Robert and Suzanne Jarman’s daughter, took the stand again Wednesday. She had previously testified for the prosecution on Monday. She called her mother her best friend and consistently referred to her death as “the accident.”

She said there was no domestic abuse in the house. She said her parents sometimes had arguments, but never loud arguments.

She said her father visited a casino maybe once a month when he received a free play promotion in the mail, but he didn’t have a gambling problem.

He said the missing $850 on the night Suzanne Jarman was shot was not a source of tension between her parents. She said her parents left her brother’s birthday party that night because it was over.

“It was just a question of ‘where did we put it?’” she said.

After Carly Jarman testified Wednesday, she remained in the courtroom and during a break in the trial walked with her father, their arms on each other’s back.

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