Drug death, sentencing brings 2 Warren families to tears

WARREN

The families of Maurice Bryant and Megan Fitzgerald walked from the courtoom Thursday and immediately hugged each other and cried – for the Bryant family’s son was headed to prison for three years, and the Fitzgerald family’s daughter had died from drugs Bryant gave her.

Bryant, 28, had been a friend of Megan’s, and they had done drugs together, Megan’s father, David Fitzgerald, said outside the Trumbull County Common Pleas courtroom of Judge Ronald Rice. Fitzgerald, 24, died April 10, 2015.

“They were all friends. I know it took a lot for him to take responsibility, but he stood up and did it,” David Fitzgerald said of Bryant, of Shady Lane in Howland.

The Fitzgerald family gave a statement to the court saying they knew their daughter was a drug addict, and she had started using drugs again a few months before her death. They thanked Bryant for taking responsibility for his role in her death.

Read nore about the case in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.