A Missouri man accused of giving a college student a fatal dose of a date rape drug accepted a plea deal that will likely result in a 5-year prison sentence.

If the case had gone to trial, defendant John Berger, 37, would have faced 20 years in federal prison.

Berger allegedly provided cocaine and other drugs to people at a party on April 7, 2002, as well as giving the drug 1,4 butanediol to Tessa Gross, 26, before having sex with her.

When Gross passed out, Berger admitted he cleared all the illegal drugs out of the apartment before calling for help, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday. She died later that day.

The prosecution was planning to produce witnesses who also say they were drugged by Berge, and the owner of the loft where the date rape took place to say Berger drugged Gross as part of a quest to sleep with 100 women.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 03 December 2007   

Source:

Archive