FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE Federal
Prosecutor Lies To Judge About AIDS Patient Peter McWilliams’
JULY 31, 1998 / LOS ANGELES, CA: At an emergency hearing to determine if AIDS-cancer patient Peter McWilliams should be immediately released from federal custody on medical marijuana charges, federal prosecutor Fernando Aenlle-Rocha told the judge, “Mr. McWilliams has received his full complement of AIDS medications since July 24, 1998, his second day in custody.” In fact, as the prescription bottle supplied by the federal government’s in-prison pharmacy clearly reveals, McWilliams was not given the 3rd drug in the 3-drug combination AIDS therapy until July 26, 1998. “Prosecutor Fernando Aenlle-Rocha looked the judge right in the eye and in somber, precise, governmental tones lied to the judge,” said McWilliams after the hearing. “That the government failed to provide me with AIDS medications for 4 days is appalling. That the government would lie about that fact in order to keep me in custody is reprehensible.” The judge believed prosecutor Fernando Aenlle-Rocha over McWilliams and remanded McWilliams back into federal custody. The earliest McWilliams could possibly be released is Monday, August 3, 1998. Prosecutor Fernando Aenlle-Rocha also misrepresented the prescription medication Trazadone, a major antidepressant, as mearly, “A sleeping pill,” therefore not important to McWilliams’ AIDS treatment. “People with AIDS walk a tight rope over the abyss of depression,” said McWilliams. “Prosecutor Fernando Aenlle-Rocha is obviously too young to have experienced life-threatening illness first-hand. Either that, or someone slipped his compassion a sleeping pill.” McWilliams had praise and gratitude for the Los Angeles Chapter of the ACLU rising in his defense. “Now that reason has failed, I hope that the ACLU will move ahead on the legal front as soon as possible,” said McWilliams. “The shoddy medical treatment in federal lock-up is nothing short of the murder by bureaucracy.” Although McWilliams now has his AIDS medications, he has not been given an effective anti-nausea medication, so keeping the life-saving drugs down is difficult. McWilliams has also not been given his antidepressants at the prescribed dosages since his incarceration, a situation that continues to this day.
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