Des Moines doctor accused of overdose deaths, including musician - KWWL.com

A Des Moines doctor faces several counts of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors say he prescribed large amounts of narcotic painkillers to people who later overdosed and died.

Dr. Daniel Baldi appeared in court Thursday.  He's pleading not guilty.

One of the eight deaths being tied to Dr. Baldi is Paul Gray - a member of the Iowa metal band Slipknot.  Gray's body was found in a hotel in May 2010.

Defense attorneys say its wrong to bring criminal charges against a doctor due to unfortunate deaths or medical results.

Thursday afternoon, Slipknot released the following statement:

"As the loss of our brother Paul Gray is still very fresh for us in the Slipknot family, this new development has us all in a state of anger and sadness. The fact that this person took advantage of our brother's illness while he was in a position to help others has outraged everyone in our family. We can only hope that justice will be served so this can NEVER happen to anyone else ever again! Our thoughts go out to the families of the other victims. We plan to cooperate as much as we possibly can to ensure this tragedy is never repeated, and to make sure this man pays for what he has done."