83 year old man freed in Wellbutrin case

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http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_091206WABwellbutrinJK.2365ee0.html

83-year-old found not guilty, freed in Wellbutrin case

05:18 PM PDT on Tuesday, September 12, 2006

KING5.com

OLYMPIA -

OLYMPIA - Last year a Thurston County woman awoke suddenly as her husband plunged a knife into her neck.

The 83-year old husband was accused of domestic violence and charged with attempted murder.

But his family -- including his wife -- begged the courts to se him free. It wasn't domestic violence, they argued, but prescription medication to blame.

Eric Attwood, 83, stabbed his wife of 60 years in the neck last October, but his lawyers argued he was legally insane at the time because of a reaction to the antidepressant Wellbutrin.

Initially, the courts kept him locked up and issued a restraining order keeping him away from his wife, Margaret.

�He�s being treated like a criminal and it hurts me it really hurts me because he's not a criminal,� she said.

In August, a judge found Attwood not guilty of attempted murder and on Tuesday, Attwood -- alert and taking a different prescription -- learned he could go home.

�I think you're looking at the real Eric Atwood this morning,� lawyer Jeff Robinson said.

Judge Richard Strophy agreed, but warned Attwood to keep tabs on his medication.

�[If] you feel yourself feeling differently you'd better reach out and remove yourself from the premises, before anything like what happened in the past repeats itself,� he told Attwood.

KING

Eric Attwood

For Margaret Attwood and their daughter Hilary, relief that their ordeal is nearly over.

�It's been a long year for us, but he's still my husband and I love him very much,� she said.

On his release, Eric Attwood already knew something he wanted to do.

�I'm looking forward to some good food,� he said.

In 2004, the FFDA warned consumers Wellbutrin could increase the risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviors in adolescents and last year, said it could do the same in adults.

http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060912/NEWS/60912012

Published Sept. 12, 2006

Elderly man allowed home after drug-induced attack on his wife

By Christian Hill

The Olympian

Eric and Margaret Attwood walked out of Thurston County Superior
Court hand-in-hand today, taking the first steps together toward
normalcy after an act of violence shattered their 60-year union.

A Thurston County Superior Court judge ordered that Eric Attwood,
83, could return home for the first time since his arrest for
stabbing his wife in the neck as she slept on the morning of Oct. 3.

Last month, a judge found Attwood not guilty by reason of insanity
after agreeing his crime was motivated by an adverse reaction to the
prescription antidepressant Wellbutrin.

In the intervening months, Attwood spent time at Western State
Hospital, and the health of both spouses took a turn for the worse
as they endured their first time apart from one another, said Hilary
Carlson, their daughter.

Today with her husband close by her side during an interview,
Margaret Attwood savored their reunion.

"I feel so much better," she said outside the courtroom. "It's been
a long year for us, but he's still my husband and I love him very much."

"I think we've know for the last several months that this day would
come," added Eric Attwood, choked with emotion.

During a brief hearing, Attwood reassured Thurston County Superior
Court Judge Richard Strophy that he would comply with all
court-ordered conditions, including receiving treatment and taking
all his prescribed medications.

His attorney, Jeffery Robinson, said last month Attwood was on a
different antidepressent and has been prescribed antipsychotics.

"I think you're looking at the real Eric Attwood at this point,"
Robinson told Strophy, as his client stood next to him dressed in a
blue suit jacket and gray pants.

Attwood has been staying at an adult family home since his release
in late June from Western State Hospital in Steilacoom, where he
underwent psychological evaluation.

The state Department of Corrections recommended to the court that
Attwood be allowed to return home.

The couple had lived in their own house on Carlson's 20-acre parcel
in Yelm. They will stay with her until they can be sure he can
return to where he nearly killed his wife.

Margaret Attwood has said she fought to survive that morning to
ensure people would know something had gone terribly wrong in his
mind, that her attacker wasn't "her Eric."

Carlson called her mother a hero.

"She fought to validate my dad's life," Carlson said.

/Christian Hill can be reached at 360-754-5427 or at
chill@theolympian. com./