Solich's DUI

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

DUI: Driving Under Influence

 

Solich still did that. He still chose to get in a car and drive while he was under the influence of something. While it's true his judgement was impaired that still doesn't excuse his making the wrong decision and taking the wrong actions.

[NU fan in Denver]

DUI: Driving Under Influence

 

Solich still did that. He still chose to get in a car and drive while he was under the influence of something. While it's true his judgement was impaired that still doesn't excuse his making the wrong decision and taking the wrong actions.

While I am not defending his actions, you can still drink and drive if the amount of alcohol you consume is below a certain level. I don't know how many he had that night. Does anyone recall what his BAC was? If he was under the influence of GHB he would have never known. This is an interesting situation, we will see how it plays out.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

DUI: Driving Under Influence

 

Solich still did that. He still chose to get in a car and drive while he was under the influence of something. While it's true his judgement was impaired that still doesn't excuse his making the wrong decision and taking the wrong actions.

While I am not defending his actions, you can still drink and drive if the amount of alcohol you consume is below a certain level. I don't know how many he had that night. Does anyone recall what his BAC was? If he was under the influence of GHB he would have never known. This is an interesting situation, we will see how it plays out.

He wasn't tested. He was lucid enough to ask for a lawyer who advised him not to take the test and plead "no contest".

[pigsonthewing]

Journal Star

 

A rumor for the past few months, Frank Solich’s contention he was drugged on the night of his arrest for drunken driving has become an official legal matter.

 

Solich’s attorney said Friday he has filed a request asking the Athens, Ohio, Municipal Court to examine a drug test and consider overturning the Ohio University football coach’s Nov. 28 conviction. A police report from Solich’s Nov. 26 arrest indicates he was slumped over the wheel of his vehicle, which was still in drive facing the wrong way on a one-way street.

 

The coach’s attorney, Sam Shamansky, said Solich’s original plea of no contest was given “without complete understanding of the facts of the case.”

 

A test performed in January on a hair sample from the former Nebraska head coach showed positive for GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), also known as the date rape drug. Shamansky said Solich was unaware of ingesting GHB, which is commonly mixed with alcohol and in low doses is known to cause drowsiness and dizziness.

 

Did someone slip GHB into one of Solich’s drinks the night of Nov. 26 at Casa Cantina in Athens?

 

Reached Friday, the coach referred all questions to Shamansky.

 

“I presume it could happen anywhere where malicious people spike drinks,” the attorney said. “It’s sad, but people do it. And for what gain?”

 

Ohio law says a defendant who seeks to withdraw a guilty or no contest plea after a sentence has been served must show the withdrawal is necessary “to correct a manifest injustice,” according to Athens city prosecutor Lisa Eliason. The court now will decide to either overrule Shamansky’s motion or allow a hearing before a judge to consider the merits of the case.

 

The Athens prosecutors office will contest Shamansky’s motion.

 

In 16 years of prosecuting DUI cases, Eliason said she’s never encountered a motion to withdraw a plea.

 

“It’s very rare,” she said.

 

Said Shamansky: “My hope is that the government (ultimately) sees fit to dismiss the case.”

 

Rumors that Solich had been drugged began circulating in Athens within weeks of his conviction. According to The Athens News, the rumors gained momentum when an e-mail attributed to Jon Dalton, Solich’s son-in-law, appeared on Internet bulletin boards and blogs. The author of the e-mail said he had been “cleared to share some information” about the incident.

 

The e-mail claimed an analysis of Solich’s hair taken after his arrest revealed “extremely elevated” levels of GHB. The e-mail also suggested that Ohio president Roderick McDavis did not support Solich and athletic director Kirby Hocutt going public with the information.

 

Solich earlier this week informed Ohio athletic department officials of the decision to file the motion.

 

School officials, including McDavis and Hocutt, declined comment Friday. The school instead released a prepared statement saying, in part, “We support Coach Solich’s right to bring this matter before the court for determination. It would not be appropriate for us to comment any further on the matter or on the facts or the arguments raised in the case while it is in litigation.”

 

A bartender at Casa Catina said nobody working there is commenting on the case.

 

Fired by Nebraska following the 2003 season, Solich was hired last year to turn around an Ohio program that had had just two winning seasons since 1982. The Bobcats went 4-7 in 2005.

[AR Husker Fan]

He wasn't tested. He was lucid enough to ask for a lawyer who advised him not to take the test and plead "no contest".

That, alone, would seem to negate any argument on his part that he was drugged. He had sufficient mental capacity to ask for a lawyer and follow his lawyer's advice, but was so impaired by the drug as to warrant a DUI charge? Somewhat inconsistent...

[DJR313]

Mitch Sherman had a great point about this on Harrah's Sports Soundoff. He said that Solich needs to be accountable for his actions. Not only his actions, but dealing with what may happen in putting himself in position for things like these to happen. He needs to drop the BS, man up, and form a positive example of accountability for his players. Him pointing the finger 6 1/2 months after the fact is pathetic and will do nothing to clear his name.

[DJR313]

This is starting to smell kinda fishy.

 

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http://www.athensnews.com/index.php?action...&story_id=25129

 

Scientists cast doubt on coach's hair samples

By Jonathan Hunt

Athens NEWS Writer

Monday, June 5th, 2006

 

|| Email this article

 

 

Two eminent toxicologists asserted Friday that lab results underpinning Ohio University football coach Frank Solich's claim he was doped Nov. 26 appear suspiciously flawed.

 

"It is absolutely not possible to find such an amount of GHB in hair after a single exposure (nor chronic exposure)," wrote Dr. Pascal Kintz by e-mail. "Something is wrong."

 

Kintz, of Laboratoire ChemTox in Illkirch, France, is considered the leading expert worldwide on hair testing for GHB.

 

Solich's attorney, Samuel Shamansky of Columbus, filed a motion Friday morning in Athens County Municipal Court to withdraw the no-contest plea that led to the coach's DUI conviction in November. The motion is based on a Jan. 5 test of Solich's hair by Toxicology Associates, Inc. of Columbus, which found 569.4 nanograms per milligram of GHB in a hair segment.

 

Municipal Judge William Grim agreed Friday afternoon to hold an evidentiary hearing on the Solich case, but it has not been scheduled yet. If Grim were to find sufficient evidence of a GHB doping incident involving the coach, he could allow Solich to withdraw his DUI plea. The case would then presumably proceed toward trial.

 

Solich consumed margaritas and other alcoholic drinks on the evening of Nov. 26 at Casa Cantina in Athens, according to witnesses. Around 9:45 p.m. that night, Athens Police patrol officer Krishea Osborne found him "slumped over the wheel of his vehicle" facing the wrong way on West Union Street near South Congress Street, police reported. Solich, who Osborne and a witness reported was visibly impaired, refused an alcohol breath test and was arrested.

 

The incident received national press attention because of Solich's status as a Division 1 head coach, and his previous stint as head coach of the high-profile University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football program. The Sporting News' Web site was the first last week to report Solich's effort to withdraw his no-contest plea.

 

A representative of Toxicology Associates, Inc. refused to comment Friday on the methodology used to test Solich's hair, or to explain the unsigned lab results. He would not identify himself.

 

"A lab report should be certified and signed by a qualified toxicologist," said Dr. Bruce Goldberger, a professor and director of toxicology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, on Friday. Goldberger is also president-elect of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.

 

"(569.4 nanograms per milligram of GHB in hair) is an extremely high level," said Goldberger. "A single exposure to a drug such as GHB will not result in that level."

 

Goldberger said it might be possible to attain such a high GHB concentration, but it would not reflect the substance having been slipped into a drink 40 days prior.

 

"There's something wrong with this picture," he assessed. "The lab finding is suggestive of external contamination as a result of physical application. Although, I can't be absolutely sure that the test was conducted properly with washing prior to the test, or if the coach doped his own hair."

 

Only by first decontaminating the hair, and then testing the hair as well as the wash residue, could lab clinicians perform an accurate test, Goldberger added.

 

Solich attorney Shamansky said Sunday that the idea of an alibi ruse by the coach is an "absurd notion."

 

"This is not a situation where coach Solich is facing the electric chair," said Shamansky, calling him a "high-profile, proud, law-abiding man."

 

The period of time after the coach's November arrest was confusing and difficult for Solich, he added. "It's difficult to make decisions when you've got a national spotlight glaring at you," said Shamansky.

 

The hair test "was conducted professionally and in a scientifically conclusive manner," he maintained. If anyone is suggesting a fraud, "they're just flat-out wrong," said Shamansky. "The result speaks for itself. We welcome the scrutiny."

 

Shamansky pointed to another alleged drink-tampering incident at Casa Cantina, and he noted that the bar now has a sign warning patrons to carefully monitor their beverages. However, the attorney said he and Solich are "not pointing fingers at any establishment or individual," even though he's certain somebody spiked the coach's drink.

 

Athens City Prosecutor Lisa Eliason said Friday that the attempted plea withdrawal is unusual, and that she and her boss, city Law Director Garry Hunter, generally oppose the idea.

 

"It's rare, a motion to withdraw a plea," said Eliason. "We do not, as a matter of principle, acquiesce to a motion to withdraw a plea. It's totally discretionary by the judge."

 

GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, is found naturally in the human body, but can cause drowsiness when ingested in a concentrated form. At higher doses, GHB can be used as a "date-rape" drug. It was legally sold at nutritional supplement stores and over the Internet as a mood and performance enhancer and sleep aid until the federal government banned it in 1990. Now, the only legally manufactured GHB is sold under the trade name Xyrem as a prescription sleep-disorder drug by Jazz Pharmaceuticals of Palo Alto, Calif.

[Blackshirtsguru]

Not to sound like a prick but WHO REALLY CARES??!!!

[DJR313]

Not to sound like a prick but WHO REALLY CARES??!!!

Since there have been 22 replies on this one and 40 some on the other one, obviously a few people care enough to discuss the topic. I think it's a rather intriguing story even if he isn't the coach here anymore.

[NU fan in Denver]

Very interesting developments. We will see how this one plays out.

[NU fan in Denver]

OWH

 

 

ATHENS, Ohio (AP) - A judge refused to let Ohio coach Frank Solich withdraw his no contest plea Wednesday to a drunken driving charge, finding that there was ample evidence to support the offense.

 

Solich, former head coach at Nebraska, had asked to drop the plea based on his claim that he was not drunk but was slipped the "date rape" drug GHB.

 

Judge William Grim of Athens County Municipal Court found that even if he had ingested the drug, Solich was under the influence of alcohol after drinking more than three margaritas in less than three hours on an empty stomach.

 

"While defendant now regrets that decision, such regret, by itself, does not entitle him to a replay," Grim said about Solich's plea. "Fourth and goal decisions are difficult and sometimes regretted, but usually final nonetheless."

 

Solich's attorney, Sam Shamansky, said no appeal is planned.

 

"Frank Solich appreciates the opportunity to have his day in court," Shamansky said.

 

Solich was arrested Nov. 26 by police who found him slumped over the steering wheel of his sport utility vehicle. He entered the plea Nov. 28 and asked to withdraw it soon after.

 

Solich lost his license for six months and was fined $350. The university required him to participate in alcohol-education programs on campus to keep his job.

 

Colorless, odorless GHB - gamma-hydroxybutyrate - has been linked to dozens of deaths. Mixed into a drink, it can render a victim unconscious within 20 minutes, and it is difficult to trace. The Food and Drug Administration banned its sale in 1990.

 

A January test performed on a sample of the coach's hair revealed an extremely high content of GHB, his lawyers have said. Two expert witnesses in forensic toxicology disputed that in testifying for the prosecution last week.

 

Solich, 58-19 in six years at Nebraska, went 4-7 at Ohio last season, his first at the school.

[tattooedhusker]

Not to sound like a prick but WHO REALLY CARES??!!!

he's not our problem anymore

[huskerdavo]

Not to sound like a prick but WHO REALLY CARES??!!!

he's not our problem anymore

lets all share something we miss about franky:

 

i miss his recruiting

 

i miss him being a midget santa