Trial opens for Utah man accused in major opioid ring

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lawyers for a man accused of running a multimillion-dollar opioid ring out of his suburban Salt Lake City basement said Monday he was involved in drugs but wasn't capable of running such a major operation.

Aaron Shamo, 29, has a learning disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that make him incapable of orchestrating the complicated scheme that prosecutors laid out in court documents, defense attorney Greg Skordas said during his opening statement at Shamo's trial.

Prosecutors say several people will testify that Shamo ran the ring that mailed opioids laced with fentanyl to places across the U.S. and resulted in a fatal overdose.

"The evidence will not establish that Aaron Shamo caused the death of another, or that he was the organizer, leader, mastermind of this organization," Skordas told jurors.

Fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, has exacerbated the country's overdose epidemic in recent years.

The federal government's case against Shamo is expected to offer a glimpse of how the drug, which has killed tens of thousands of Americans, can be imported from China, pressed into fake pills and sold through online black markets.