Father blames medication for son accused of murder


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Updated: 10/09/2012 5:24 pm | Published: 10/04/2012 4:17 pm
Reported by: Marcos Ortiz
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 NEWS) - 84-year old Joyce Baxter was visciously attacked at her home.
And police claim her Grandson "admitted" to stabbing her.
21-year old Zachary Weston was arrested for the crime.

I'm still dazed this is like a dream to me," says Zachary's father Walter. "I wish I hadn't woke up."

Walter Weston woke up learning his son was accused of killing his maternal grandmother Wednesday.

"Zach's a good kid,but recently he's been going through changes and I can't figure it out," the elder Weston told ABC 4 News.Inside Baxter's home, police came across a bloody scene. According to a probable cause statement filed at the jail, police wrote: "(Weston) admitted to stabbing his grandmother numerous times." "(He) 'admitted to slicing the victim's abdomen open" and there was "evidence of partial disembowment of the victim."
"I'm in shock, i can't believe this," Weston says."He's in, he's out, he's in, he's out, nothing permanent," says his father. "I think the system is behind this because they let him down."

Walter Weston says he's personally saw his son's violent temper act up before.

"He attacked me too a couple of days before that and it' s not him, it's not him," he says. "I'm his father."

Two years ago at a 7-11 convenience store Weston attackd his mother and punched two officers who tried to arrest him.
He was allowed a plea abeyance which is similar to probation. But one of the conditions required Weston to get mental health treatment.
His father says it didn't do any good.
"He's in, he's out, he's in, he's out nothing permanent," says his father. "They let him down."

Zachary Weston was supposed to be back in court in September to see whether he had fulfilled those conditions. But his father says he was in jail for assaulting him.

Salt Lake District Attorney Sim Gill says they were screening the assault charge. But now prosecutors will focus their attention on the homicide case.
Meanwhile, Zach's father says his son wasn't himself when he allegedly murdered his grandmother.

"I think the medication they put him on is doing it because the last medication (there was) no problem," he says.
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