Second Trial Begins for Gary in Circuit Court
By FRED CONNORS Staff WriterAttorneys presented opening arguments Monday in a case against Mark. C. Gary, a former Wheeling pharmacist charged with helping his wife get unauthorized prescription drugs.
In May, an Ohio County grand jury indicted Gary, 52, of 122 Ridgecrest Drive, Wheeling on three counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, forgery or deception and one count of conspiracy.
On Aug. 25, Ohio County Circuit Judge Arthur Recht was forced to declare a mistrial in the first Gary trial because only 25 of 34 people summoned for jury duty reported to serve as potential jurors.
The mistrial came after the prospective jury pool dropped to fewer than 20 people.
As Monday's trial began, Assistant Ohio County Prosecutor Joseph Barki said evidence will show that over a two-year period, Gary dispensed 81 prescriptions - representing 4,860 lorcet/hydrocodone tablets - to his wife.
Barki said Gary worked as head pharmacist when his wife presented prescriptions forged from a Wheeling doctor.
Defense attorney Stephen Herndon said evidence would reveal that his client has been a pharmacist for 27 years, has never been disciplined by the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy and has no criminal record.
Herndon said a computer link between the pharmacy board and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency allows for all prescriptions to be monitored, and he noted neither agency found problems with Gary.
"I suggest that Mark Gary did not know he was doing anything wrong," Herndon said.
Earlier this year, Recht sentenced Gary's wife, Pamela, to four years of probation after she pleaded guilty to a charge of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, forgery or deception.
