Friday, March 18, 2011

Judge mulls dismissing Glaxo lawyer indictment | Reuters

(Reuters) - A federal judge is considering whether to dismiss an indictment against a former GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.L) lawyer after new evidence emerged about possible prosecutorial errors in her indictment.

The lawyer, Lauren Stevens, was charged in November with obstructing a Food and Drug Administration probe into Glaxo's marketing of its antidepressant drug Wellbutrin.

At a hearing on Thursday in Greenbelt, Maryland, Stevens' attorney asked U.S. District Judge Roger Titus to throw out the indictment, arguing that prosecutors failed to properly answer a question raised by a grand juror about Stevens' defense.

The question concerned whether it was relevant that Stevens received advice from others. Stevens' defense lawyers have said she was acting on the advice of Glaxo's law firm, King & Spalding, a so-called advice-of-counsel defense.

Posted via email from Jack's posterous

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