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PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Criminal charges were dropped against a man who claimed that drinking jasmine tea caused him to go temporarily insane, smash his way into a neighbor's house and chase her with a dagger.
Police said they found Gilbert D. Walker, 43, outside the house in nearby Callaway yelling "I'm crazy!" on Dec. 3 after he had broken a glass door with a brass duck.
Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet dismissed aggravated assault and burglary charges Wednesday after receiving reports from three court-appointed psychologists. They agreed that Walker suffered from psychosis but offered no opinion on what caused it, Chief Assistant State Attorney Alton Paulk said Friday.
Paulk said the defense offered the tea theory.
Jasmine is an herb commonly taken to calm the stomach but also used as a love potion in satanic and cult rituals, defense lawyer Mike Hunter said.
Assistant State Attorney Mark Graham said that because of the psychologists' findings, he did not object to dismissing the charges. One doctor wrote that the psychotic episode was isolated and Walker should have no lasting problems.
Walker, a software designer and engineer for a government contractor, declined to comment.
Hunter said a forensic toxicologist told him certain jasmines can be hallucinogenic.
"It depends on what you use and what you mix it with," Hunter said. "Some chemicals act as a catalyst."
Walker's former girlfriend gave him the tea, purchased from a specialty shop in Dothan, Ala., to settle his stomach and help him sleep. Hunter said she never warned Walker against drinking more than a cup or two a day - and he consumed up to 10 cups daily.
Walker's lawyer said he started dreaming of biblical struggles between good and evil and posted notes around his town house - "things like, "God is good,' "God is love' and "Heaven protect me.' "
Hunter said that on the night Walker burst into his neighbor's home, he had hallucinated that a set of ceramic Chinese dogs were barking or talking to him.
"He says he's trying to keep these ceramic dogs from barking when he hears this crash," Hunter said. "He figures he's broken one of the dogs."
Instead, Walker had just thrown the brass duck through his neighbor's door. He then chased Loresa Davis from her house. She ran screaming down the street. A motorist gave her a ride to a store, where she called police.
Prosecutors likened the tea theory to the "Twinkie defense" used by former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White, who was charged with killing the city's mayor and another supervisor in 1978.
White avoided a first-degree murder charge and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after his lawyers convinced jurors that eating junk food had diminished his mental capacity.