Deputy medical examiner testifies in heroin death trial

Joe Lee of Gonic leaves courtroom during a short recess from his trial this week in Strafford County Superior Court. (Lebanon Voice photos)

COPYRIGHT2017© DOVER - The state's deputy chief medical examiner on Thursday explained in graphic, often grisly detail the clinical facts regarding the fatal 2014 heroin overdose of a Rochester man, whose death has spawned two arrests, including one that has already resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for a Rochester woman who supplied the deadly dose.

The jury trial of Joe Lee, 58, of 10 Church St., Gonic, entered its third day on Thursday at Strafford County Superior Court with testimony from Jennie Duval of the state's Medical Examiners' Office recounting what she learned from an autopsy and toxicology tests performed on 30-year-old Jason Danner just a day after he died from the overdose on June 30, 2014.

Deputy Chief ME Jennie Duval

Prosecutors say Lee sold the heroin that killed Danner to Jennifer Harriman of Rochester, who passed it on to Danner and his girlfriend the day he ingested the drug after which he remained in a deep coma until almost a week later when family - learning his prognosis was grim - decided to take him off life support.

Harriman, 34, of Flagg Road, is in the midst of a six- to 12-years prison stint for supplying the drug that killed Danner after accepting a plea deal.

Lee, charged with acts prohibited: death resulting, faces up to life in prison if found guilty.

Under questioning from Assistant County Attorney Tim Sullivan, Duval said after performing an autopsy and collecting fluid and tissue samples from Danner she determined he had died of a heroin overdose that led to a deep coma caused by oxygen and blood deprivation to the brain.

She said when EMS personnel arrived on June 23, 2014, to treat Danner he was not breathing and had no pulse and they had no way of knowing how long he'd been not responsive and not breathing.

With the help of CPR and stimulative drugs they were able to get him back breathing, but it stopped several more times en route to Frisbie Memorial Hospital.

Once there initial tests, including Cat-scans, showed massive brain damage, Duval said, leading to the family's decision to remove a breathing ventilator and other life support equipment on June 29. Danner, who was known fondly as Captain Redbeard to friends, died a day later.

Duval said her autopsy and toxicology tests determined that Narcan, a heroin overdose antidote; Xanax, morphine and 6-MAM, a heroin marker, were found in either his blood or urine.

From left, Jason Danner (courtesy), Joe Lee and Jennifer Harriman (Police mug shots)

She advised the courtroom that Xanax was a relatively safe drug and saw no impact from it in Danner's death.

During cross-examination defense lawyer Thomas Reid asked Duval if pneumonia or a genetic heart condition could have killed Danner.

Duval said pneumonia indicators present in the autopsy were simply the result of weakened lung function from the coma, and that a genetic test the state could have ordered was not warranted, especially considering the massive brain damage the lack of oxygen caused immediately following the overdose.

Lee's jury trial begins its fourth day of testimony today at 10 a.m.