Cuccia
Jury rejects acne-med plea
PITTSBURGH - A man who claimed mood swings caused by an acne drug made him stab a high school cheerleader to death was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
John Mullarkey stabbed his ex-girlfriend Demi Cuccia 16 times on Aug. 15, 2007, then slit his own throat in a suicide attempt.
Defense attorney Robert Stewart conceded the killing but argued that Mullarkey, now 20, didn't go to the 16-year-old cheerleader's house with the intent to kill her. Instead, he said, Mullarkey, of Monroeville, had a diminished capacity linked to the acne drug Accutane.
The defense was seeking a third-degree murder conviction.
Accutane was prescribed as an acne drug of last resort because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has linked it to episodes of suicide and depression. It's made by Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., of Nutley, N.J., whose Web site says the drug can cause "serious mental health problems."
Stewart asked for a mistrial earlier yesterday because Hoffmann-La Roche pulled the drug from the market Friday citing concerns over pricing of a generic version and other issues.
But Judge Jeffrey Manning said the trial was not tainted because the company's decision had nothing to do with the defense's claims that Accutane affected Mullarkey. *
