Murder suspect blames medication
January 14, 2009
Testifying in his own defense against charges he killed his construction company boss over a bad job review, Tom Tuduj said Tuesday he doesn’t remember plunging a knife into the man and blamed the May 16, 2006, killing on medicines he said made him feel like a “mutant.”
Tuduj, 36, said he looked up to his boss, Gary Poter, 48, and doesn’t remember stabbing him or confessing to police.
Tom Tuduj testified that he doesn’t remember killing his boss Gary Poter (inset).
(Courtesy/CBS2)
Tuduj, 36, said a doctor recommended by his mother gave him anti-anxiety and sleep medication a week before the killing but didn’t tell him that mixing the drugs could be dangerous.
Tuduj said he started feeling “weird” and having recurring nightmares about Poter killing all his colleagues at the Northwest Side offices of Poter Construction & Development Co., 5440 N. Cumberland.
“You begin to hear voices,” said Tuduj, whose lawyers are mounting an insanity defense.
A day before the killing, Tuduj said he was so heavily medicated he could barely express his emotions when Poter gave him the job review and informed him he would be getting a $10,000 pay cut. Prosecutors said Tuduj told colleagues he was disgusted over the pay cut, then came back the following day and, in a rage, fatally stabbed Poter.