State to cite gambling as motive for doctor accused in pill deaths

[The General]

By Sarah Prohaska

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

FORT PIERCE — Asuncion Luyao's defense attorney says the fact that his client was a regular customer on a "cruise to nowhere" gambling ship should have no part in the doctor's trial on charges she ran a so-called "pill mill" from her former Port St. Lucie office.

Prosecutors, however, say those frequent trips, and the amount of money she lost to a Palm Beach County-based casino cruise line, will show jurors a potential motive for Luyao's alleged crimes.

Those were the arguments Senior Circuit Judge Dwight Geiger weighed Tuesday before making a decision that will bring one of the most significant changes from Luyao's first trial, which ended last year with a hung jury.

Geiger ruled that jurors in her retrial, which began two weeks ago and will continue today, will be allowed to hear testimony that the doctor was a customer on the Palm Beach Princess and lost more than $30,000 while gambling on the ship in 2001. The jurors in the original trial did not hear anything about Luyao's recreational gambling.

Geiger said he agreed with prosecutors' argument that the gambling information is relevant because it could show a potential motive for Luyao's actions. The judge also said he didn't believe the testimony would be prejudicial to Luyao because the gambling was "totally legal."

Defense attorney Joel Hirschhorn argued that, even though Luyao's gambling was legal, it has a stigma that would prejudice her in the jurors' minds.

"This evidence is so weak and so fraught with danger to not only confuse the jury but also prejudice the defendant," Hirschhorn said.

Assistant State Attorney Erin Kirkwood is expected to call a records custodian from the cruise line to testify today about the number of trips Luyao, 64, took on the boat, the amount of gambling chips that she bought and the amount of money that she lost.

Kirkwood told Geiger Tuesday that Luyao took 131 trips on the boat in 2001 and lost more than $30,000 gambling that year. She lost another $9,000 in 2002, she said. This shows Luyao was "losing money gambling" and needed to keep a high patient load and money coming in, Kirkwood said.

Luyao is charged with six counts of trafficking oxycodone, six counts of manslaughter in the drug-related deaths of six patients and one count of racketeering. Her license to practice medicine has been suspended since her 2002 arrest.

Prosecutors say she aimed to keep some of her patients addicted to powerful narcotics in order to continue to collect a $80 cash-only office fee required for a monthly refill. Her defense attorney says she was a caring and compassionate doctor who did not intentionally harm her patients or deal drugs.

A certified public accountant testified Tuesday that prosecutors hired him to review bank statements from Luyao's practice. He estimated that her deposits from patients' fees increased from $228,093 in 1997 to $567,509 in 2001.

Hirschhorn pointed out that the accountant was not asked to analyze Luyao's expenses, so those figures do not show what she actually took home.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations early next week.

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