Late SLIPKNOT Bassist PAUL GRAY's Wife's Lawsuit Against Doctor Is Dismissed

August 1, 2014

According to The Des Moines Register, a lawsuit filed by the widow of SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray against his former doctor has been dismissed.

Polk County District Judge Dennis Stovall ruled that Brenna Gray waited until after the two-year statute of limitations had run out before filing the lawsuit against Dr. Daniel Baldi.

Paul Gray was found dead on May 24, 2010 after overdosing on drugs in a hotel room in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, where he and SLIPKNOT were based. Brenna filed her suit on February 14, 2014.

Brenna Gray's lawyer, Bruce Stoltze, argued that the statute of limitations shouldn't have started until Gray had reason to believe Baldi caused her husband's death, but the judge disagreed.

Daniel Baldi was acquitted in May of seven criminal counts of involuntary manslaughter. He was accused of causing the deaths with his careless prescription habits

Brenna Gray testified during Baldi's trial that Paul's final weeks were a "blur of extreme drug abuse," which neither his doctor nor his bandmates would help his wife confront. She said that Baldi continued to prescribe Xanax for Paul despite knowing that the musician was a drug addict, saying, "I just wasn't really sure why he was on it, why he needed it along with the medication he was taking for addiction."

Baldi's lawyer cross-examined Brenna, asking her if she was aware that her husband overdosed on the painkillers fentanyl and morphine, neither of which Baldi ever prescribed to him.

Brenna also testified that she tried reaching out to some of Paul's bandmates in SLIPKNOT just days prior to the bassist's death but that none of them wanted to get involved. She revealed, "One was playing golf two minutes away from our house but couldn't come. Nobody else cared, nobody was involved. They told me it was my problem."

SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor told The Pulse Of Radio back at the one-year anniversary of Gray's death how he felt about the loss of his friend and bandmate. "I just miss him, you know," he said. "I miss him so much sometimes that it doesn't feel like he's gone, and there are times when I'm thinking and he's in my train of thought and I have to stop myself and go, 'Oh, God, he's not here.' But you know, I mean, there's not a day that goes by that I don't miss him. I mean, not even as far as the band goes — I wish that he was there to watch his daughter grow."

Brenna revealed in a 2011 interview with Revolver that her husband had agreed to get help for his drug problem just one day before he died.

Paul was 38 years old at the time of his death. He left behind his widow and a daughter, October, who was born three months after his passing.

After a lengthy hiatus, SLIPKNOT resumed touring in 2011, with Donnie Steele playing bass live. The band recently completed work on its first album without Gray.

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