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
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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.
