Sullivan's Law
mother got worried and called my doctor.”
    Carolyn asked, “Was the doctor’s name Walter Gershon?”
    â€œYeah,” he said. “I wrote him tons of letters from prison. He never answered me.”
    â€œI tried to find him as well. He isn’t listed. He either retired, moved away, or he’s dead. Do you recall ever taking a drug called Levodopa?”
    â€œNo, why do you ask?”
    â€œWhen you were arrested, this medication was listed among your possessions. I checked with a psychiatrist and he informed me that this was the worst drug anyone could give to a person with your condition.”
    Daniel’s eyes drifted downward as he tried to remember. “I carried my pills in an envelope when I was at school or away from the apartment. Were the pills in an envelope?”
    â€œYes,” Carolyn answered. “How long had you been taking them?”
    â€œA week maybe,” he said. “Dr. Gershon changed my medicine. I don’t remember what it was called. I know I was upset when I picked up the prescription from the pharmacy.”
    â€œWhy were you upset?”
    â€œBecause it had a different name than what the doctor had ordered,” Daniel told her, making small circles on the surface of the table with his finger. “I even got in an argument with the pharmacist, thinking he’d given me some other person’s prescription by mistake. He brushed me off, telling me it was a generic form of the same drug. You know, that’s why it had another name.”
    â€œHow did the drug affect you?”
    â€œEverything fell apart,” Daniel said, tears glistening in his eyes. “I was doing really well in school before I started taking the new drug. Then I started having problems again. When I called the doctor, he told me to double the dose. As soon as I did, things got even worse.”
    This was a vital point, Carolyn thought, not that either the psychiatrist or the pharmacist had made a serious error, but that someone related to the crime had kept this information from the court. “Can you tell me the name of the pharmacy?”
    â€œO’Malley’s,” he said. “But the store isn’t there anymore. I passed the street on the bus today. There’s a new shopping center where the drugstore used to be. All the drugstores are big chains now. The O’Malleys were a family.”
    â€œI know,” Carolyn said, sad at how their world had changed. Family businesses were rare these days. “Why did the doctor change your medication to begin with?”
    â€œBecause I was only a few months away from graduating,” he said, blinking repeatedly as he continued to move his finger in circles on the table. “Stress can set off an attack. I’m sorry. Talking about this disturbs me.”
    Carolyn forged ahead. She’d caught a glimpse of his illness. Now she wanted facts. “Have you ever committed an act of violence during an acute attack?”
    â€œNever,” Daniel said. “I’ve walked naked in the middle of the street, along with some other bizarre things. I’m not a violent person. Even when I first got to prison and the inmates went after me, I didn’t fight back.”
    â€œLet’s concentrate on the night of the crime. Do you remember the three boys at all?”
    â€œI know what they looked like from the courtroom,” Daniel told her, clasping his hands together tightly. “When they jumped me, it was dark and I couldn’t see their faces that well. I’d been studying at the library.”
    â€œThe crime occurred in an alley behind Rudy’s pool hall,” Carolyn said. “What were you doing in the alley?”
    â€œIt was a shortcut to my apartment. I wanted to get home so my mother wouldn’t yell at me. She treated me like I was—”
    â€œTry to focus, Daniel,” she said. “You need to tell me what happened.”
    â€œI remember

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