Wade had steroids in his system night of slaying, hearing told, By: Jill Redhage

May 19, 2007

Former Arizona State University football player Loren Wade had steroids in his system the night he’s said to have shot and killed another former Sun Devil, Brandon Falkner, according to testimony during a hearing Friday for Wade’s murder trial.

Jennifer Valdez, a toxicologist for the Scottsdale Police Department, told Judge Arthur Anderson on Friday morning in Maricopa County Superior Court that analysis of a urine sample taken March 26, 2005, showed it contained seven steroid compounds not produced naturally by the body.

At the time, the football team’s preseason training was well under way.

Her testimony came during a special hearing outside the purview of the jury, in which prosecutor Juan Martinez, defense attorney Ulises Ferragut and the judge discussed whether evidence or testimony about the steroids would be allowed into the trial.

Valdez told the judge that she didn’t have a standard by which to compare the results, so she couldn’t judge the amounts of each compound in his system, nor identify what types of steroids they might be.

“The players were being tested regularly at that time,” Ferragut said after the hearing, “and he always tested negatively.”

Ferragut said that either the crime lab’s test could have been inaccurate, or the compounds could have been some other substance.

The judge ultimately ruled that steroid-related evidence or testimony will be inadmissible before the jury.

The prosecutor hadn’t previously approved an expert who could help the jury understand the results, and the judge feared that would leave the jury with information impossible to interpret on their own. Anderson also agreed with the defense’s argument that more notice was needed to prepare a defense for the evidence.

Anderson said he hadn’t yet decided whether Martinez would be allowed to ask Wade about the steroids if he takes the stand.

Wade was present for the hearing. Out of the jury’s sight, he was transported from jail in black-and-white stripes and chains, not in a suit, as has been allowed for the trial.