CLEARFIELD Pa. – Testimony from medical professionals, eyewitnesses and law enforcement officials filled the second day of the trial of Dennis William E. Demoss, 38, of Munson.
Demoss is charged with drug delivery resulting in death, endangering the welfare of children and criminal use of communication facility, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter, corruption of minors and recklessly endangering another person in connection with the overdose death of a teenager in August 2022.
Testimony began on Monday and is expected to continue through Thursday.
First Assistant District Attorney F. Cortez “Chip” Bell III began by calling Dr. Bai Yang Xu, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on the teen. Xu testified that the cause of death for the teen was listed as “accidental fentanyl toxicity,” meaning the patient was not intending to end their life. Xu testified that fentanyl effects the central nervous system by repressing activity in the lungs and brain. Xu said patients under the influence of fentanyl will take shallow breaths which will decrease the amount of oxygen entering the bloodstream and being carried to the brain. If the patient has taken a high enough dose of fentanyl, the breathing can stop completely, sending the patient into respiratory arrest.
Xu said if the patient goes into respiratory arrest, it can lead to cardiac arrest, and the brain will begin to swell. If severe enough, the swelling can lead to brain death.
Defense Attorney Robert Freeman asked Xu what fentanyl would be used for in a medical setting. Xu said fentanyl is often used for sedation and pain management. Freeman pointed out that the medical report on the teen said he had been given fentanyl while in the hospital. Xu said the patient had been showing signs of pulmonary edema (when fluid and blood begin to build up in the lungs) when Emergency Medical staff arrived at the home and that the patient had stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest before arriving at the hospital.
Next to testify was Dr. Tyler Hutchenson Harris, a pediatric cardiologist. Harris said he examined the teen to determine why he had gone into cardiac arrest. Harris said he had run several tests and had “ruled out a lot,” but he was still waiting for further testing results at the time of the teen’s death. Harris said there was a “severe” decrease in function of the left ventricle which decreased blood flow to the rest of the body. Harris said the teen was being given medication to help the heart function and was on a ventilator.
Freeman asked Harris if fentanyl had been administered to the teen while in the hospital. Harris said the patient had been given fentanyl for sedation, but they were considered “therapeutic” doses.
Harris said when the teen had been admitted to the hospital, he was considered “critically ill,” but that he was “optimistic,” that heart function may improve.
Dr. Michael Green, a pediatric infectious disease expert, testified that he had been called in to determine if the teen had any type of infection which may have caused his condition. Green said the patient’s sudden symptoms were not consistent with an infection.
Dr. Alicia Au, medical director of UPMC hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit testified that she and her team were the attending physicians when the teen was brought into the hospital. She said based on the history the staff was able to obtain, the patient had been found unresponsive and when Emergency Medical Staff arrived, the teen had stopped breathing and had gone into cardiac arrest while in the ambulance. Au said she believed the teen’s condition was caused by something that happened before arriving at the hospital.
Au said the staff at the hospital put the patient on a ventilator and were treating his condition while trying to find the cause. Au said the teen had been doing construction work earlier that day and was heard by witnesses to be making “gurgling” sounds while taking a nap. Au said people in the house with the victim could not wake him and called 911.
Au said the team at the hospital had begun “ruling out” potential causes through tests, but the teen was not breathing on his own and was on medication to maintain his blood pressure. Au said tests showed “burst suppression” where his brain activity would “pause.”
Au said the team ran a rapid urine test, which was positive for fentanyl. She said because the patient had been given fentanyl at the hospital, they also ran a comprehensive urine test which showed not only fentanyl, but xylazine, an animal tranquilizer with no human medical use.
Au said the patient’s brain continued to swell while in the hospital and he was declared “brain dead” on Aug. 3, 2022.
When asked about fentanyl given at the hospital, Au said the fentanyl at the hospital would not have contained the xylazine.
Zachary Moran, of the Pennsylvania State Police Narcotics Unit testified that xylazine was often used to “cut” fentanyl to make it more potent and to increase the amount of drugs available for “street sale.” He said fentanyl and xylazine were “downers” that decreased activity in the central nervous system.
The prosecution then called three teenaged witnesses to testify to what happened on July 28, when the victim was taken to the hospital. All the witnesses said the victim was “fine” when he came to dinner that afternoon/early evening but had been complaining of a headache. All witnesses said the victim went to Demoss’s bedroom in the basement to nap.
One witness said she thought something was wrong and told Demoss but that Demoss “brushed it off” and said the victim was tired from working.
Stephanie English, Demoss’s mother and owner of the house where the incident occurred, said she had made dinner for everyone and said the victim told her he wasn’t feeling well. English said the teen had been “sick” for “over a week.” English said the teen “stumbled” and broke a picture on the wall, but then ate dinner, took ibuprofen and went downstairs to “lay down.”
English said later that evening, one of the teen witnesses came and told her something was wrong with the victim. English got another family member who then called 911.
Troopers Raymond Green, Frederick Burns, and Matthew Peacock, criminal investigators with the Pennsylvania State Police, Woodland Barracks, testified that they interviewed Demoss on Aug. 1, 2022.
Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Lose-Morgan played audio recordings of the interviews, but the recordings were “redacted” because another individual was talking during the interview. In the recordings, the troopers asked Demoss repeatedly if he had given the victim any illegal narcotics and Demoss consistently said he had not. The troopers said they had taken photos of the bedroom which showed a prescription bottle and a bottle of ibuprofen on a shelf.
During the interviews, Demoss said the victim had “fallen down” at work and that he had given the victim a bottle of water. He said it was “very hot” that day and both he and the victim had headaches. Demoss said he had used “fenny-heroin” (heroin mixed with fentanyl) in the past but stopped roughly a week before the incident and had “thrown out” his drugs. He said there were no drugs in the house. Demoss agreed to turn over a “vape pipe” that he had.
