Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jul 2005
Source: Standard-Examiner (UT)
Copyright: 2005 Ogden Publishing Corporation
Contact:  http://www.standard.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/421
Author: Tim Gurrister

MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE DISMISSED IN CASE OF METHADONE
SHARING

OGDEN -- A judge threw out a manslaughter charge Wednesday against a
man accused of fueling an acquaintance's drug overdose.

"The victim really caused his own death," 2nd District Judge Ernie
Jones said. "The victim was the intervening factor. The defendant only
provided the drug."

The prosecution told the judge they would appeal his dismissal of the
manslaughter charge against Harold Eugene Harmon, 55, in the death
last year of Cheyenne Gordon, 33, from an overdose of methadone.

Harmon is still charged with first-degree felony distribution, which
carries a heavier penalty than the manslaughter charge would have. A
status conference was set for Aug. 10.

Police said Harmon admitted providing the methadone to Gordon.
Methadone is prescribed legally in treatment of heroin addicts,
requiring users to sign agreements that they will not share the drug
with others and that they are aware it could prove fatal to someone
who is not a recovering addict.

Jones, in explaining his ruling, said a search of case law showed
numerous appellate rulings where drug distribution, despite its evils,
did not equate to homicide.

"The victim asked for the methadone and administered it himself," the
judge said. Giving the man the methadone did not amount to a
"substantial and unjustifiable risk of death," since many take
methadone without such disastrous results, he said.

"Methadone is different; it's unique from cocaine, or methamphetamine,
or heroin," said Jones, who also presides over the Ogden 2nd District
Drug Court. "It's meant to get you off drugs."

While the warning notices methadone users sign say the drug is not
life-threatening, it also notes that it can be fatal mixed with other
drugs, Jones said. "And the medical examiner said (Gordon) used
cocaine and heroin with it."

"Obviously the judge was concerned," Harmon's lawyer John Caine said
after the hearing. "It just isn't there, the reckless 'mens rea'
(Latin for mental state) to charge my client with manslaughter.

"The judge even looked at cases outside of Utah, while our brief was
confined to state law."

Following Harmon's preliminary hearing in May, Jones asked the
prosecution and the defense to research the legal issues and provide
him briefs on Harmon's liability in providing someone the means of
their death.

Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria said then the case was likely the
first time his office had filed a homicide charge for a drug overdose.
Manslaughter is included in the state's homicide statute. 
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