Berg, 23, and his friends partied through the night of Sept. 4 and into the next morning, drinking vodka and beer at various Mulberry houses and at a Plant City bar, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Then they got some liquid morphine. Berg drank a shot-glass full of the drug, witnesses told deputies. Thirteen hours later, friends found him dead.

The Medical Examiner's Office said he died from toxic levels of morphine in his system, and on Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office arrested Berg's friend, Daniel Aleman, 23, charging him with third-degree murder in connection with Berg's death. Deputies say Aleman admitted to giving Berg the morphine.

On Sept. 4, Berg and Aleman started drinking at Berg's house in Mulberry, the Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff Grady Judd said the purpose of the partying was to celebrate Berg's passage of his court-ordered drug test.

An arrest affidavit states that Berg was known to abuse Xanax. In 2007, he was sentenced to a year in prison for driving with a suspended license. He was found guilty of battery and criminal mischief in Jan. 2009 and given six months of probation. In May, he was charged with driving under the influence.

The friends left Berg's house and went to the Twilight Zone club on State Road 60 in Plant City. There, Aleman got a bottle of morphine from an unknown person, the Sheriff's Office said.

Later, they went to their friend Pick Sansom's house in Mulberry, where Aleman poured the morphine, the Sheriff's Office said. Aleman and another friend drank a little bit, deputies said. Witnesses told deputies that Berg poured about an ounce of morphine into a shot glass and drank it. It was about 3 a.m., and they quickly fell asleep, the Sheriff's Office said.

Berg woke up at about 11 a.m. and said "keep the kids quiet" because he was trying to sleep, deputies said. He fell back asleep. When Berg's friends tried to wake him up around 4:30 p.m., he was unresponsive.

Deputies and paramedics were called to the scene minutes later, and Berg was declared dead.

The Sheriff's Office and a poison expert were surprised that Berg lived for at least eight hours after taking a shot of morphine. Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said it's possible that Berg may have woken up and drank more morphine.

She said witnesses didn't see him drink more. It's difficult to know, because investigators don't have the bottle, she said. Aleman told deputies that he destroyed it in a fire, the Sheriff's Office said.

"What we do know is that there was an excessive amount in his blood and it was toxic," Eleazer said. "It was enough to kill him."

Toxicology tests recently returned to the Medical Examiner's Office also found traces of Xanax but not a significant amount, the Sheriff's Office said.

The autopsy found no trauma to his body and investigators initially suspected no foul play. The blood and urine tests were ordered because Berg was a known drug user and was under a court order to stop using drugs.

When the results came back, detectives interviewed all the witnesses again.

On Wednesday, detectives arrested Aleman on charges of third-degree murder and delivery of morphine and booked him into the Polk County Jail.

"Our message from the Sheriff's Office is clear," said Sheriff Judd. "If you provide drugs to another and they die, we're going to come arrest you for murder."

Submitted on 03/17/2010

Submitted by: Tim Perry
Reference: tampabay.com 3-18-2010

Copyright © 2010 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
This had already been submitted (but with a very poor write-up) and written off as "too common". What I like about this story is the irony and the fact that this bozo was already in trouble because of drugs!

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
That's a pretty serious case of drug abuse. Taking a full shot glass of liquid morphine is downright idiotic. Thanks, Tim!

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