Dr. Harriston Bass Jr. appears in Las Vegas Justice Court during his preliminary hearing Friday. After hearing witnesses all day, the judge postponed until Wednesday a decision on whether to send Bass to District Court to face a murder charge. Photo by Gary Thompson.

Gina Micali died stretched out on her couch, wearing white pajama pants with lipstick kisses on them.

Her neighbor found the seemingly reposed 38-year-old, who was already dead from what the Clark County coroner described as an accidental prescription drug overdose, on Oct. 6, 2005.

"She was lying on the sofa, and the wife had hollered at her several times and couldn't arouse her at all," said Alton Willard, who with his wife had a key to Micali's home that they often used to enter the home to feed her two dogs.

He felt for a pulse and could not find one.

After a preliminary hearing Friday, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure began to deliberate whether to send Micali's doctor, Harriston Bass Jr., to District Court to face a second-degree murder charge in her death. He's scheduled to issue a decision Wednesday.

Authorities believe Bass prescribed Micali hydrocodone, which as a licensed doctor he was authorized to do. The substance is found in drugs such as Valium, Lortab and Xanax. But authorities say he also illegally sold her hydrocodone, despite having no state license to dispense controlled substances.

Two days before her death, authorities allege Micali purchased 300 hydrocodone pills from Bass. He also gave her a prescription for the same drug, which she could pick up at a local pharmacy.

On Friday, Bass' attorney, David Phillips, asked Micali's neighbor Willard whether Micali had seemed depressed the last time he saw her. Willard replied "no."

"It's obviously a suicide," Phillips said.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen, who is prosecuting the case, quipped in response, "It's obviously not."

Attorney Patti Wise, who is representing the Micali family in a civil action filed against Bass two months ago in District Court, has said Micali first went to Bass for help in dealing with chronic pain from sports injuries. But according to court documents, Bass also was treating her for psychological conditions of chronic anxiety.

Outside the courtroom, Phillips said Micali had a history of prescription abuse.

"She got a bottle of pills and she's told to take four a day and she takes 51," he said, adding later, "I feel bad for her family, but if someone wants to commit suicide, there's nothing you can do about it."

Phillips said they found 49 pills in a bottle of 100.

But Hafen said suicide was not likely.

"There was no suicide note. She was going to see family the next day," he said.

County Coroner Gary Telgenhoff said Micali had about 260 nanograms per milliliter of blood in her system at the time of her death, which is not consistent with the handful of pills suicide victims put in their mouths. "If there were 51 pills taken, I'd expect a higher level," he said.

As to the number of pills she had ingested, Telgenhoff said he is not a pharmacologist and could not testify to that.

But Hafen said even if Micali had killed herself it would not likely affect the murder charge because Nevada law states that it is murder if someone illegally provides drugs that cause a person's death.

Phillips said the statute does not apply to doctors and asked that the case against Bass be dismissed. Bonaventure also postponed a ruling on that motion until Wednesday.

Bass initially was charged with 21 counts of selling a controlled substance and six counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.

However, Hafen dropped nine of those sale of a controlled substance charges Friday. They were related to a father and son who have been involved in cases Bonaventure tried as an attorney, which Hafen said might have been a conflict. Hafen said he has the option to pursue those charges through a grand jury.

As a result of those charges being dismissed, Bonaventure dropped Bass' bail to $210,000. Phillips said his client could not make the new bail. He had asked for a $100,000 bail.

During the hearing, Hafen asked two of Bass' former patients to take the stand. Sam Baker and Gene Papandrea said they bought drugs from Bass. They said Bass, owner of Doc's 24-7, came to their home and carried prescription drugs in the back of his PT Cruiser.

Papandrea said he first made an appointment because of frustration with Las Vegas medical professionals after spending too much time sitting in waiting rooms.

"I just felt like a number," he said.

He saw Bass' advertisement in the phone book and said it appeared more convenient.

Papandrea suffered from back pain and received prescriptions from Bass, which he filled at his local pharmacy.

Bass also offered to sell him similar pain killers.

As Papandrea's tolerance for the drugs increased, so did the amount of drugs he began to purchase from Bass, according to court records.

Baker said his wife introduced him to Bass. She had been Bass' patient. Baker said that when he suffered an injury to his back, he called Bass to his home.

"After he was done filling out everything and I paid him, he would walk outside and bring back a bottle," Baker said.

The Nevada Board of Medical Examiners suspended Bass' license as a result of a more than six-month investigation into his practices that began after one of his patients shot himself in the head in June. That patient had no hydrocodone in his system at the time of death, just Ibuprofen and marijuana, Phillips pointed out.

Baker said he has seen several other doctors about his back since Bass, and they have prescribed the same type and amount of drugs, including OxyContin.

"They don't give me medication at the office," Baker said. "They write me a prescription and I go to a pharmacy."