WRESTLING BABYLON News

(email, 6:59 a.m., June 16, 2008)
Dear Mr. Muchnick:

Typically, WWE has ignored your so-called “reporting” and associated attempts to promote your upcoming book seeking to cash in on the murders committed by Chris Benoit last summer.  Perhaps you have confused WWE’s disregard of you as a license to print increasingly bizarre and defamatory statements regarding WWE and/or Mr. McMahon in your effort to create some illusion of WWE complicitly in Mr. Benoit’s decision to commit capital murder.

My purpose in writing is to dispel any such illusion you may have and to advise you of certain facts.  Thus, any further repetition of similar falsehoods by you will be treated as a reckless disregard for the truth.  We have reviewed certain statements contained in your so-called Top Nine List of supposedly “unanswered questions” regarding the murders committed by Chris Benoit.  In reality, none are questions at all but rather your uninformed musing and falsehoods.  We address each below.

1.      “Congress:  All Lick and No Stick” – Vince McMahon did not “no show” Congressman Rush’s hearing, as you have stated.  As the written record clearly shows, Mr.  McMahon was “invited” to attend and told he had the right to counsel by the invitation.  I was personally involved in a criminal trial for another client and had an incurable conflict as a result.  Mr. Rush’s committee was so advised.  Beyond that, I would add that WWE produced all the records Mr. Rush’s committee asked for long ago and never heard another word from that committee until it “invited” Mr. McMahon to appear.  Additionally, WWE also provided additional documents to Congressman Waxman’s committee, and Mr. McMahon personally answered questions by their staff.  In short, Congress has received complete cooperation from WWE. 

2.      “Dr. Astin/Signature Pharmacy/DEA” – As noted, the precise “unanswered question” you seek to raise here is not clear, nor is the importance of the “unanswered question” evident given the certainty that Chris Benoit murdered his family.  There are a few clear things, however, which your piece omits.  First of all, it was WWE which provided law enforcement with information it had about Chris Benoit’s visit to Dr. Astin on the day of the murders before any search warrant was executed on Dr. Astin.  Secondly, I personally met with District Attorney David Soares, who has conducted the Signature Pharmacy investigation, and WWE acted promptly on information provided to us by Mr. Soares in suspending talent who had dealt with Signature in ways that violated the Wellness Program.  Third, there is little mystery now about Chris Benoit’s medical condition on the date of the murders.  His autopsy report confirms the existence of a medical condition requiring testosterone replacement therapy.  In that regard, despite original statements made by the United States Attorney suggesting that Dr. Astin overprescribed testosterone, the fact is that Dr. Astin was never charged with any illegality in regard to those prescriptions.  Indeed, after nearly a year of further investigating Dr. Astin, the recent new indictment of Dr. Astin does not contain any steroid related charges.  Additionally, the toxicology report issued by Georgia authorities reveals the presence of other substances found in his body on autopsy, and Dr. Astin has been charged with improperly prescribing with respect to those drugs.  The toxicology report of Nancy Benoit also indicates the use of various drugs, and the recent indictment of Dr. Astin appears to charge Dr. Astin with prescribing such drugs to her outside the course of proper medical treatment.  If these charges are sustained at the eventual trial of Dr. Astin, it would indicate that Chris Benoit and Nancy Benoit were both abusing prescription medications at the time of the murders.

3.      “Civil Litigation” – Simply put, there is no civil lawsuit against WWE, nor was it necessary to settle estate issues to clear the path to any such frivolous lawsuit.  There are no legitimate estate issues, as the surviving children of Chris Benoit are the only persons under Georgia law who should inherit the estate on the facts of that case.  If Chris Benoit first murdered his wife and then his son, which is the official conclusion of that investigation, neither Nancy’s parents, nor Michael Benoit, are entitled to a dime of estate assets.  In that regard, as a reporter, I would think you might find it interesting that the settlement of which you speak involving Michael Benoit and the parents of Nancy Benoit has been “sealed” from the public.  As a reporter, I would think you might be more interested in finding out whether estate assets are being transferred in their entirety to the surviving children of Chris Benoit or are being diverted elsewhere, including to persons with no legal right to state assets.

4.      “Fayette County Authorities – Threat or Menace” – The notion that District Attorney Scott Ballard and Sheriff Johnson “got played like a cello by WWE” is utter nonsense.  Nobody from WWE, including myself, ever spoke to Scott Ballard.  As to the sheriff’s office, we provided numerous facts to them to aid their investigation, including that Chris Benoit had seen Dr. Astin earlier in the day.  In point of fact, the authorities did not do many things which should have been done, and which they were urged to do, and did several things which should never be done in any competent investigation.  Foremost among such actions was releasing the crime scene, together with critically important evidence, to persons with financial interests within a day of discovering the bodies.  Indeed, it is a matter of historical record that I called on authorities during a national television program to locate Chris Benoit’s diary when I learned of it since it might have shed light on the murders.  Incredibly, when it finally was located or retrieved, it was evidently given to Michael Benoit rather than maintained in police custody.  Similarly, Mr. Ballard made numerous public statements which were inappropriate and ultimately belied by the actual forensic evidence and failed to see to it that certain tests were done which might have supplied a motive and/or more complete picture of the circumstances within the Benoit family.  Indeed, the disdain for Mr. Ballard is evident to anybody who speaks to the actual investigators.

Likewise, your insinuation that Mr. McMahon in some unspecified way kept authorities from charging Jimmy Snuka for murder in 1983 is an odious lie.  I gather this lie was told to support some inference that Mr. McMahon in some way influenced the investigation of the Benoit deaths.  I would note that Mr. McMahon never spoke to any of the officials investigating the Benoit murders, so your attempted inference that he did something improper in Benoit’s case, or would have any reason to do so, is also false.

5.      “WWE’s Head Start” – In this particular piece of drivel, you state that “the company knew the score at least two hours before calling 911.”  Nowhere, of course, do you plainly state what you mean by “the score.”  From this phony predicate, which I gather is designed to suggest that somehow WWE knew Chris Benoit had murdered his wife and child two hours before supposedly calling 911, you then compound that lie by claiming WWE used its “early knowledge” (of what is not said) to get out in front of and shape the public story by “slowing down” the timeline and garnering early sympathy.  Exactly who supposedly knew something two hours before calling 911, or how they or anybody would have known two hours before calling 911, or what these unknown persons supposedly knew, is conveniently left out of your report, precisely because you know that the whole construct is utter nonsense.  To be clear, WWE’s timeline reflects what it knew and when, and your attempts to suggest otherwise, are simply malicious fabrications.  There is not a shred of evidence anywhere that Chris Benoit told anybody what he had done—orally, by text message, or by any means—before taking his own life.

6.      “Yo, Scott and Chavo” – Once again, in your attempts to conjure up unanswered questions and suggest something nefarious, you ignore that Chavo Guerrero gave nationally broadcast versions of exactly what happened and when, including when he advised WWE of Chris Benoit’s text messages.  Your desire to create a story out of whole cloth is no excuse to ignore facts of record.

7.      “Who Let the Dogs Out” – Is the suggestion of this non-issue that unnamed WWE personnel used their alleged, but non-existent, two hour head start to go to Benoit’s house for some reason to leave the dogs out?  Exactly what purpose would be served by anybody leaving the dogs out anyway?

8.      WWE’s Policies – Once again, no real question here; just hyperbole.

9.      Cocktail of Death – The police report, incomplete as it is in certain material respects, nevertheless portrays a deeply troubled marriage having nothing to do with WWE.  As to the concussion theory, suffice it to say that none of that alleged scientific work has ever been made available for independent review, and the notion that Chris Benoit had the brain of an 85-year old with dementia defies both common sense as well as the observations of those who had contact with him every week.  Simply put, he couldn’t have found the airport if that supposed “finding” were even remotely accurate.  It was for that reason that we asked the Sports Legacy Institute to turn over all of its “science” for independent review.  They have refused to do so.

In regard to the alleged concussion issue, I further note that you have posted the comments of Michael Benoit on your web site regarding the new indictment of Dr. Astin together with Mr. Benoit’s statement that “the findings of Doctors Bailes, Omalu and Cantu that the underlying cause of the tragedy was the condition of my son’s brain.”  Mr. Benoit also characterizes the indictment of Dr. Astin as not alleging anything improper with the prescriptions given Chris Benoit for painkillers and muscle relaxers, stating the amounts were not excessive.

First of all, in none of the public comments of which I am aware has any doctor, including Drs. Bailes, Omalu and Cantu, stated that alleged concussions caused Chris Benoit to commit the first degree murders of his wife and son.  In fact, I distinctly recall Drs. Bailes and Cantu stating they could not render such an opinion.  I would further note that SLI’s purported findings came out before any of the police investigative work was made public.  I rather doubt that any reputable physician who has read that report would render an opinion that alleged “concussions” made Chris Benoit hog tie his wife and then brutally murder her in the fashion depicted in the police report, and none has to date.  Secondly, the allegation of the new indictment portrays a much different scenario than Michael Benoit portrays, in fact charging Dr. Astin with not only prescribing an illegitimate amount of drugs to both Chris and Nancy Benoit, but also charging him with conspiracy with some of the recipients of his prescriptions to further distribute the drugs.  As Michael Benoit surely knows, since he is the executor of the estate, the house where the murders were committed had no mortgage.  Instead, the builder was paid by a series of payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, and all payments were consistently made by Nancy Benoit from various accounts.

In closing, try as you might, Chris Benoit, and only Chris Benoit, is factually, legally, and morally responsible for the murders of his wife and child and his decision to commit suicide rather than face the legal consequences for committing two first degree murders.  Notwithstanding your desire to shift blame to WWE by your ill-conceived conspiracy theories in order to promote yourself or a book, please try to get your facts correct in the future.  Rest assured WWE will not stand idly by if you don’t.
Jerry S. McDevitt
**********

(email, 8:49 a.m., June 16, 2008)

Mr. McDevitt:

I will post the text of your email. I think independent observers would agree with my position that the questions I am raising constitute a search for the full truth of the entire surrounding narrative – not with your position that they show reckless disregard for the truth. I have never said or suggested that anyone other than Chris Benoit committed the double murder/suicide.

Inter alia, you object to my reference to the 1983 death of Jimmy Snuka’s girlfriend. My chapter about that incident in my book Wrestling Babylon discusses the recollection of an investigator that Vince McMahon served as Snuka’s “mouthpiece” when he was interrogated by the police.

Your bullet point no. 8 has no specifics. No. 9 goes off on a tangent about Michael Benoit. As for the others:

1. Vince McMahon’s no-show of the Congressional hearing. Your objection to the term “no-show” comes down to semantics. The controversy was well documented in the mainstream media, as well as in my post “Wrestling Is Back on the Congressional Radar Screen,” http://muchnick.net/babylon/2008/03/05/wrestling-is-back-on-the-congressional-radar-screen/.

2. Dr. Astin/Signature Pharmacy/DEA. I am far from the only journalist who has raised questions about how promptly WWE acted on the information given to it by the Albany district attorney, and how consistently the Wellness Program in general has been executed. I do not quite see the point of your complaint about my commentary on Dr. Astin’s indictment; the essence of the commentary is my wondering aloud why charges related to steroids were not part of the indictment. For your part, you offer an articulate argument for the prosecutorial discretion that was exercised here.

3. Civil litigation. Nowhere have I said that there is a civil lawsuit on file against WWE, so I do not understand your complaint. Thank you for the background on estate law and pointers to further areas of reporting.

4. Fayette County authorities – threat or menace? Your comments on the Fayette County investigation are valuable additions to the public record. WWE’s vice president for corporate communications, Gary Davis, long ago stopped responding to my communications. I am happy to have a direct conduit of future communications.

5. WWE’s head start. Analysis of telephone call transaction data indicates that calls to Benoit ceased around 11 a.m. Monday, June 25, 2007 . WWE’s first call to 911 was after 1 p.m. What that all means cannot be determined. Good and aggressive advocate that you are, you say that it means nothing.

6. Yo, Scott and Chavo. Mr. McDevitt, please share with me Chavo Guerrero’s “nationally broadcast versions of exactly what happened and when, including when he advised WWE of Chris Benoit’s text messages,” and I will promptly publish them. I will be especially interested in how these versions explain the 30-hour gap between when Benoit sent Guerrero and Scott James (Armstrong) messages, and when the WWE timeline says company executives were told of them.

7. Who let the dogs out? I have reported on this issue several times on my blog. Benoit’s texts said the dogs were in the enclosed backyard area by the pool, but when the sheriff’s deputies got there, the dogs were loose in the general area near the front gate. I also have said that there are two possible innocuous explanations. One is that Benoit, who was surely deranged at that point, was not telling the truth in his text messages about the location of the dogs. Another is that the fence around the pool area did not contain the dogs.

Irvin Muchnick

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