STRAWBERRY BEING TREATED FOR DEPRESSION

Darryl Strawberry is being treated for severe depression, as well as drug
addiction and colon cancer, and will learn next month whether his most
recent probation violation will send him back to prison.

Circuit Judge Florence Foster set a May 4 hearing after being told
Wednesday that it could take the eight-time baseball All Star about three
weeks to adjust to new prescriptions.

Strawberry started taking the medicine following a four-day drug binge when
he disappeared from a treatment facility where he was serving two years of
house arrest.

Attorney Joseph Ficarrotta said doctors are treating Strawberry's addiction
and depression with daily doses of Wellbutrin, Remeron and Depakote.

"He has good days and bad days," Ficarrotta said. "But he's going forward
and doing the best he can."

Prosecutors want Strawberry, 39, to be sent to prison after a fourth
violation of probation under a 1999 drug and prostitute-solicitation sentence.

Ficarrotta wants him locked up where he can get drug treatment,
mental-health services and chemotherapy.

Strawberry remained hospitalized Wednesday. A doctor must determine if
Strawberry's prescriptions will keep him from attending or understanding
the proceedings in May, his lawyer told the judge.

"As for conversations I've had with him, sometimes he's coherent, sometimes
he's not," Ficarrotta said.