Judge will decide in teen drug-death case

By Jeanne Starmack

A teenage girl died after taking oxycodone last year.

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A judge will decide if a teenager provided a drug that killed a classmate last year at New Castle High School.

Joshua Stewart, 17, of Wallace Avenue in New Castle, is accused of selling Erica Jo Million, 16, the drug oxycodone during a Spanish class Feb. 27, 2007. Erica, a 10th-grader, fell unconscious in a math class later that afternoon. She died of complications from the drug at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh on March 4, 2007.

Joshua is charged in juvenile court with delivery of a controlled substance. His hearing, the equivalent of a trial in adult court, was Tuesday before Judge John W. Hodge, who will issue a written decision in the case.

Thomas Minett, assistant Lawrence County district attorney, presented testimony from two classmates who said they saw Joshua and Erica exchange money and pills in class.

Joshua’s attorney, public defender David Acker, argued their testimony wasn’t credible, however.

Ethan Palmer, 16, said he was in the class along with Joshua and Erica. He said he and Erica were good friends.

Ethan said he overheard a conversation between Joshua and Erica. Erica asked, “Did you bring them?” and Joshua said yes, Ethan testified.

Ethan said she reached into her purse and got out money, including a roll of nickels.

He said Joshua reached into his pocket and pulled out small, round, white pills. Then, Joshua said, “Here’s 13 for $18,” Ethan said.

Joshua put the pills into a pocket in Erica’s purse, Ethan testified.

Ethan said he recognized the pills as oxycodone because he had seen them five years earlier at a relative’s house, on the Internet and on a television show.

Ethan said Erica then went to the restroom. She came back to class more than 10 minutes later. He then went to lunch, where he didn’t see Erica, he testified.

Brian Richards, who was also in the Spanish class, testified he saw Joshua and Erica exchange pills and money.

Minett asked the boys if they were aware of a lockdown because of a medical emergency during the afternoon. They both said they were.

Brian, Ethan and Joshua also were called to the principal’s office that afternoon and questioned about what had taken place with Erica.

Ethan said he didn’t tell the school administration about the pills “because Josh was right behind me.” He said he thought about the situation overnight and told the whole story the next day.

Brian testified he didn’t tell school administration about the pills until late April because he was nervous and scared.

Other witnesses for the district attorney’s office included New Castle police officers.

Lt. Cynthia Eve testified that when she interviewed Joshua the evening of Feb. 27, he told her he had asked Erica for flash cards in class. She had given them to him, and he later returned them.

Anthony Lagnese, a police officer with the city department’s narcotic bureau, testified he was present during a search at Joshua’s Wallace Avenue home. He said they found five prescription bottles for oxycodone at the house. Two of those bottles contained the drug in the form of the small, white pills found later in Erica’s purse.

On cross-examination, Lagnese told Acker that oxycodone, a prescription pain-reliever, comes in many colors and shapes, depending on the manufacturer. He also said police did not find a roll of nickels during the search.

Acker called character witnesses who said that Joshua is smart, does his work in class and is an active participant in his church.

Diane Winston of Cray Challenges alternative school, which Joshua has attended since being expelled from New Castle last year, said she has taught him there.

“He’s the best student I have in that class,” she said. She and the director of the school, Don Kemerer, said Joshua is basically an A student who completes his assignments.

Joshua’s pastor, Abel Robles, and youth leader, Kelly McBeth at Calvary Temple Worship Center in New Castle, both said he comes to church three times a week and participates in church activities.

In closing arguments, Acker said Ethan’s and Brian’s testimonies shouldn’t be trusted because they admitted they lied to school administration and to the police about what they saw in Spanish class the day Erica took the drug that killed her.

He said it didn’t make sense that Ethan was able to recognize the little white pills as oxycodone based on what he’d seen at his relative’s house when he was 11, a TV show and the Internet.

Acker said it didn’t make sense that Ethan, a good friend of Erica’s, didn’t try to find her at lunch to make sure she was OK after he saw her buy a drug.

Minett said the actions of Ethan and Brian weren’t wise, thoughtful or logical. “That’s why we have juvenile proceedings,” he said.

He said peer pressure kept the boys from telling the whole story to school administrators and the police. He said the boys’ testimonies are credible because they “overlap at critical junctures.”