CLEARFIELD – The trial got under way for a man accused of providing the heroin that resulted in another man’s overdose death in July of 2014 on Monday before President Judge Fredric Ammerman in Clearfield County Court.
Mark D. Shaffer, 46, of Reynoldsville has been charged with manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; drug delivery resulting in death; involuntary manslaughter; recklessly endangering another person; and intentional possession of a controlled substance.
A woman who was the victim’s girlfriend at the time testified first on behalf of the commonwealth. She said on July 18, 2014, she went camping with the victim at their campsite at the Curwensville Moose. She said they stopped to eat at Curwensville Days and then headed to their campsite afterward.
According to her, she and the victim had built a fire and began to consume alcohol. She said around 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., the victim had phone contact with Shaffer, who wanted them to pick him up on Anderson Creek Hill and take him up to their campsite.
After returning to the campsite, she and the victim consumed more alcohol. She wasn’t certain if Shaffer had consumed alcohol due to it being dark out. Around 10:30 p.m. she said the victim wanted to take Shaffer to the Curwensville Moose Club and asked if she wanted to go along with them.
The woman said she told the victim she was going to bed and asked them not to go anywhere other than the Curwensville Moose Club. She said the victim and Shaffer went to the social club for drinks. The woman said she was later awoken during the early-morning hours of July 19, 2014 when she heard Shaffer yelling the victim’s name outside.
She testified that she got up and ran outside, where Shaffer told her something was wrong with the victim. She said the victim was in the passenger’s side of her vehicle and unresponsive. When she opened the door she said the victim fell out onto the ground.
The woman said that Shaffer called 9-1-1 and handed her the phone to speak with the dispatcher. While speaking on the phone with the dispatcher, she began to perform chest compressions on the victim who showed no movement. The woman said by that time, Shaffer had left the scene.
She said that she continued to perform chest compressions on the victim until emergency personnel arrived at the scene and took over.
When asked by District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr., the woman testified that she didn’t see the victim consume any controlled substances at their campsite before he went to the Curwensville Moose Club with Shaffer. Later under cross-examination by defense attorney Michael Marshall she said, when the victim “drank he drank heavily.”
Robert Shearer, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with the Curwensville Rescue, Hose & Ladder Ambulance Service, said when he arrived at the scene during the early-morning hours of July 19, 2014, the victim was on the ground between a parked vehicle and a camper. He said the vehicle’s passenger’s side door was open over him, and they moved him in order to begin basic level life support.
Shearer indicated that the victim remained in an unresponsive state while under the care of EMTs. He said CPR continued to be performed on the victim, and primary care was eventually turned over to a team of paramedics who arrived from Clearfield Ambulance Services to begin advanced life support.
Chelsea Emel, a paramedic with Clearfield Ambulance Services, testified that she arrived at the scene and received a briefing on the victim from EMTs. She placed the victim on a monitor to check his heart, and it showed no heartbeat. She said CPR was resumed and they began transporting the victim to the emergency department at Clearfield Penn Highlands Hospital.
While en route to the hospital, she said paramedics began to administer an IV with a saline solution. She said they also administered ephedrine, a drug used to constrict blood veins in an effort to restart the heart.
Emel said paramedics administered three rounds of ephedrine before the victim had a pulse. However, she said they later lost his pulse, had to restart CPR and administer another round of ephedrine.
Emel said paramedics also administered Narcan, which blocks the effects of opioids, due to a suspicion that the victim had been using drugs.
Dr. Clifford Neal of Clearfield Penn Highlands Hospital testified that he assumed care of the victim on July 19, 2014. He said resuscitation efforts performed on the victim had failed; however, medical staff left him on life support upon request for his organs to be sustained for organ donation.
However, he said organ donation wasn’t done, and life support was eventually discontinued for the victim. The victim, he said, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. July 19, 2014.
Under cross-examination when asked by Marshall, Neal said the victim was only breathing with assistance from a ventilator, and his heart was working but badly and only due to stimulation from medications. He said it was determined that it wasn’t practical to keep the victim on life support.
Denice Teem, a certifying scientist with NMS Labs, testified to the chain-of-command for conducting laboratory testing on urine and blood specimens collected at the Clearfield Penn Highlands Hospital on July 19, 2014 and then submitted by Mount Nittany Medical Center. Upon completion of the laboratory testing, she analyzed the data and generated a report, which concluded that levels of morphine (due to the metabolism of heroin) and alcohol were in the victim’s system.
Coroner Michael Morris said he was dispatched by Clearfield County Control for an eminent death to occur July 19, 2014 at the Clearfield Penn Highlands Hospital. He said it was determined that organs wouldn’t be recovered, and the victim would be taken off the ventilator.
Morris said the victim was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. July 19, 2014 with the manner of his death being ruled as accidental and the cause being a multi-drug overdose.
He said he subpoenaed for blood and urine samples from the victim, as well as for access to his medical records. He said that he collected blood and urine samples that were closest to the time of the victim’s admission at the hospital, while they would be the most indicative of his condition.
Morris said he hand-delivered the blood and urine samples to Dr. Harry Kamerow, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy on the victim on July 21, 2014. Morris said he was present for the victim’s autopsy and assisted Kamerow at Mount Nittany Medical Center.
He said the autopsy determined heroin and alcohol were present in the victim’s system. During an external examination, he also located where a needle had been inserted into the area of the victim’s left elbow. He said he questioned emergency personnel, and none indicated they stuck the victim there.
Due to past work experience in law enforcement and with the county’s drug task force prior to becoming Clearfield County Coroner, Morris said he found this to be consistent with a method used to inject heroin.
Shaffer’s trial will resume at 9 a.m. today.