Doctor Charged With Murder in Rovero Case Pleads Not Guilty

Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng, who is charged with three counts of second-degree murder for recklessly prescribing drugs that led to three deaths, pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

One of the men who died after being prescribed drugs by Tseng was Joey Rovero, a San Ramon native and graduate who was attending Arizona State when he took a fatal cocktail of drugs before falling asleep on Dec. 18, 2009 and didn't wake up.

Tseng was arrested on March 1 and currently being held in lieu of $3 million bail.

The judge declined a request from Tseng's lawyer to lower the bail to $750,000 Friday.

April Rovero, Joey's mother, attended the hearing.

"I saw that she had the tears going," Rovero said of Tseng to the Los Angeles Times after the hearing. "But I kept thinking to myself, 'However many tears you're crying today, it doesn't even compare to the amount of tears I've cried over the last two years. You'll never cry as many tears as I've cried over my son.'"

Last Tuesday, for her work to raise awareness on the dangers of prescription drugs. The council declared March Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month in San Ramon.