People v. Vargas

The People produced evidence at the defendant’s trial before a jury that he made three sales of diazepam (valium) and one sale of barbiturate to an undercover police officer. The defendant — the owner of two drug stores, although not himself a pharmacist — admitted selling the drugs. However, he claimed that he sold them in reliance upon an employee’s statement that the purchaser had previously turned over prescriptions authorizing refills to the Brooklyn store. He also produced alleged prescriptions for the drugs. In rebuttal, two witnesses testified that the prescriptions were forgeries and…