Pubdate: Mon, 06 Nov 2000
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2000 The Register-Guard
Contact:  PO Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188
Website: http://www.registerguard.com/
Author: Chelsea Carter, Associated Press

TRIAL BEGINS IN `ECSTASY' DEATH

JOSHUA TREE, Calif. - An impromptu rave party in the Southern California 
high desert five years ago was Lucas Bielat's chance to say goodbye to 
friends before he moved away.

But the day he was supposed to leave, the 15-year-old was found dead in the 
desert from an overdose of the popular designer drug GHB.

Now, the man accused of organizing the party and supplying the drug to 
Bielat goes on trial today for second-degree murder in what may be the 
first such case in the country.

Prosecutors have charged Lindley Troy Geborde, 30, of Los Angeles with 
second-degree murder for allegedly manufacturing the drug and supplying it 
to Bielat without warning him of its danger. He is already serving a 
41-month sentence in federal prison for a 1999 conviction on charges he 
made and transported GHB.

``The law says if you have knowledge that a particular conduct is dangerous 
to human life, you engage in that conduct and that conduct results in 
death, then you're guilty of murder,'' said San Bernardino County Deputy 
District Attorney David Simon. ``Just because there hasn't been a case 
until now doesn't mean it isn't murder.''

Although three men in Michigan were convicted of manslaughter earlier this 
year in the death of a girl who drank a beverage mixed with GHB, the 
California case marks the first time someone is being tried for implied 
malice in connection with such a death.

Known to partygoers as liquid ecstasy, GHB - gamma hydroxybutyrate - is 
known for its intoxicating effect, which is similar to liquor without the 
hangover. It's also known as a date rape drug because of its ability to 
incapacitate people, leaving them vulnerable to sexual assault.

Once sold in health food stores as a natural food supplement, the U.S. Food 
and Drug Administration banned over-the-counter sales in 1990. President 
Clinton signed legislation outlawing the drug this year.

Geborde was an aspiring deejay and actor who appeared in a small role as a 
federal police officer in the 1997's ``Conspiracy Theory,'' starring Mel 
Gibson and Julia Roberts.

Defense attorney Frank Peasley says Geborde's actions did not amount to 
murder and the dangers of GHB have been exaggerated.

``(Geborde) used (GHB) all the time and his friends did, too,'' Peasley 
told The Desert Sun of Palm Springs.

He did not return a telephone call to the Associated Press seeking comment.

Both sides agree that on the night of Jan. 13, 1996, Bielat and at least 40 
other people attended a party at Giant Rock, a huge boulder rising out of 
the sand 25 miles north of Joshua Tree that was made famous in the 1950s by 
UFO enthusiast George Van Tassel.

But they disagree about what happened at the rock.

Investigators allege Geborde, then 25, handed out plastic jugs of the drug, 
which he brewed out of engine degreaser, drain cleaner and water, to 
partygoers.

Investigators suspect Geborde was the leading force in introducing the drug 
in Joshua Tree, a community of 8,600 people about 100 miles east of Los 
Angeles.

Although he had allegedly warned people at previous parties to take only 
two or three capfuls of the concoction, on this night Geborde said nothing, 
Simon said.

Witnesses say Bielat chugged the drink and then passed out. Hours later, 
they say Bielat turned blue and his feet began to curl from the cold. 
That's when, according to investigators, Geborde packed up his music 
equipment and left.

``He made it. He knew it was dangerous. He gave it to Lucas Bielat and 
didn't warn him as he watched him chug it. ... When he was dying, Mr. 
Geborde left him there. That's implied malice,'' Simon said.

But other witnesses, according to transcripts from a preliminary hearing in 
April, say Geborde told people to be careful and that he had someone call 911.

``I remember him saying `Don't drink too much,' '' testified Crystal Clare, 
who also attended the party.

At the time, the autopsy was inconclusive because the crime lab lacked the 
equipment to test for GHB toxicity.

Two years later, the Los Angeles coroner's office used a test it had 
developed to determine there was toxic level of GHB in Bielat's blood. On 
Oct. 1, 1998, Geborde was charged with second-degree murder.

Although nearly everybody agrees Bielat bears some responsibility for 
taking the drug, prosecutors and Bielat's family hold Geborde responsible 
for allegedly giving it to him.

``He was the adult,'' said Bielat's mother, Elli Robison. ``I hope they get 
him off the street forever. ... He should serve a life sentence because I'm 
serving one without my son.''
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