Presley ‘shot at doctor for drugs’

Press, 15 October 1981, Page 8

Presley ‘shot at doctor for drugs’

NZPA-Reuter Memphis Elvis Presley once fired a gun at his personal physician, Dr George Nichopoulos, because the doctor denied him drugs, the doctor’s lawyer said yesterday. The lawyer, James Neal, made his comment in an opening statement to a criminal court jury hearing .charges against Dr Nichopoulos, of dispensing controlled drugs to Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and nine other patients and himself in quantities exceeding accepted medical standards. Mr Neal did not elaborate on the shooting incident, other than to say that the bullet richocheted. Mr Neal is expected to be questioned about the incident later in the trial.

The prosecutor, Jewett Miller, told the jury that both Presley and Lewis had drug problems and were admitted to hospital for them at various times. He said that both men were subsequently freed of their drug dependency, but that Dr Nichopoulos, who is 57, continued to dispense addictive drugs to them. He told the jury that Dr Nichopoulos had detoxified Presley many times, but that the entertainer always went back to them "and he didn’t get those drugs from Dr Nichopoulos.” “He loved Elvis like a son and Elvis loved him as a father,” Mr Neal said. The trial is expected to last about six weeks.