Paul Gray, the late Slipknot bassist who was found dead in his hotel room roughly two years ago could have been involuntarily killed by his physician, Daniel Baldi.
According to the Des Moines Register Daniel Baldi is being charged with eight counts of involuntary manslaughter. One of those counts is Paul Gray. The case against Daniel Baldi states that the physician allegedly prescribed large amounts of narcotic painkillers to eight patients (including Gray) who later died of overdoses.
Charging documents released during Baldi’s court hearing state that Daniel “did unintentionally cause the death of Paul Gray by the commission of an act likely to cause death or serious injury, to-wit, continually wrote high-dose prescription narcotics to a known drug addict from 12/27/2005 until his death.”
Slipknot's Clown, aka Shawn Crahan, commented on the charges against Baldi stating, "None of it is going to bring back our brother Paul.” Shawn went on to elaborate about addiction saying, "This epidemic of this sort of activity is becoming more and more … evident. It truly is becoming a problem amongst people. And it trickles all the way down to the youth. And awareness needs to be brought about." If only he had drug abuse education.
Crahan clarified that he was referring to “not only substance abuse but the ability to acquire substances, to get chemicals and the efficiency of it.”
At Wednesday’s criminal court proceedings, Judge Odell McGhee entered a not-guilty plea on Baldi’s behalf. Baldi was released later that day after posting a $16,000 dollar bail. If convicted on all accounts, Daniel Baldi could face up to 16 years in prison.
Update 9/6/2012 4:40 EST: Slipknot have just released the following official statement on the matter:
As the loss of our brother Paul Gray is still very fresh for us in the Slipknot family, this new development has us all in a state of anger and sadness. The fact that this person took advantage of our brother’s illness while he was in a position to help others has outraged everyone in our family. We can only hope that justice will be served so this can NEVER happen to anyone else ever again! Our thoughts go out to the families of the other victims. We plan to cooperate as much as we possibly can to ensure this tragedy is never repeated, and to make sure this man pays for what he has done.
-Slipknot
