Pubdate: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 2006 Journal Sentinel Inc. Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/submit.asp Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265 Author: David Doege Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) DRUG DEATH CASE THROWN OUT OF COURT Prosecution Can't Prove Defendant Provided Methadone Waukesha - It took authorities the better part of three years to put together a homicide case in the 2003 fatal drug overdose of Angela Franceschetti, but when the case faced its first real test in a courtroom, a judge threw it out. Although a woman who partied with Franceschetti the night before she died admitted supplying her with LSD, she denied giving her any methadone, and it was a combination of the two that killed the New Berlin woman, according to court records. Because of that, according to Waukesha County Circuit Judge Ralph Ramirez, authorities have only half of the evidence they need to keep their homicide case on track. "I do not condone this behavior," Ramirez said in tossing the case after a recent preliminary hearing. "I believe that it is illegal and that it's unfortunate. "But the question is not whether I like it." Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, who filed the first-degree reckless homicide case against Mary R. Dundon, disagrees and is seeking approval from the state attorney general's office to appeal the dismissal. "We didn't think we needed to link the methadone (to Dundon)," said Bucher, who believes Dundon gave both drugs to Franceschetti. "Wisconsin law indicates that any drug that is delivered that is a substantial factor in a death is enough" to support the homicide charge. "Our expert said it (LSD) was a substantial factor in her death," he added. The case that Bucher and New Berlin police put together against Dundon, of Oak Creek, is further complicated by information that the drugs that killed Franceschetti were given to her while she was partying in Chicago and that Illinois authorities hold the prosecution jurisdiction, according to Ramirez. Moreover, the witness who linked Dundon to the methadone given Franceschetti has become problematic for authorities. Bucher said he was "unable" to call her as a witness for the preliminary hearing. "We have issues with her that I'd rather not get into at this time," he said. On the night of Jan. 24, 2003, Franceschetti, 24, went out for the evening with a friend, Nashata Norwood, and Dundon, whom she met through Norwood, according to the criminal complaint. During the course of the night, the three went to Chicago "to party," stopping at "various nightclubs" and returning to the Milwaukee area the next morning, the complaint says. The complaint and the medical examiner's report give the following account: Hours later, while Franceschetti lay in bed dying, Dundon telephoned her and left a voice mail message. "Hey, Angie, this is Mary," Dundon said, according to the complaint. "Umm, I am just calling to check on you. "I am sorry I gave you so many of those things yesterday. (I) was kinda (profanity) up and wasn't really keeping track. "So I guess I'm a little concerned and I apologize." After Franceschetti was found dead, police learned about the voice mail message from the dead woman's family and confronted Dundon. Dundon, a 25-year-old recovering heroin addict, told Detective James Jansen that she gave Franceschetti some LSD in Chicago, but that was all. It was Norwood who said the methadone also came from Dundon, telling police that in a telephone conversation the two had before they learned of Franceschetti's death, Dundon said she had given Franceschetti methadone. "I gave her too many pills," Norwood said Dundon told her. Later, after learning that Franceschetti had died, Dundon became "very hysterical," according to Norwood. "I am going to jail," Dundon exclaimed, according to Norwood. "My life is over. "I don't want to go to jail for this." During Dundon's recent preliminary hearing, a pathologist and toxicologist testified that a combination of LSD and methadone killed Franceschetti and that the LSD alone would not have been fatal. Jansen testified that Dundon admitted to him that she bought the LSD at a bar in Chicago and gave it to Franceschetti there. Jansen added that when he showed Dundon a methadone pill found in Franceschetti's pocket after her death, Dundon insisted it didn't come from her. "That's different than what I gave her," Dundon insisted, according to Jansen. Defense attorney Samuel Benedict urged Ramirez to dismiss the case, primarily contending that the LSD Dundon admitted giving Franceschetti could not have killed her. "The evidence seems to suggest that there were other drugs (methadone) that were not delivered by the defendant that caused her death," Benedict said. "We don't know how that was obtained." Ramirez said that while the criminal complaint linked Dundon to the methadone through Norwood, the link to send the case to trial (Norwood) was missing. Ramirez added that Dundon committed no crime in Wisconsin that could be a basis for sending the case against her to trial. "I believe a felony of delivery of LSD occurred," he said. "There's enough evidence to believe that, but that it occurred in the state of Illinois and it's not for me to consider." Bucher told Ramirez he was "in error." "What we do know is that this defendant delivered the LSD," the prosecutor said. "What we do know is that she refused to admit that she delivered the methadone. "That doesn't mean she didn't. What we do know is that methadone was found in the defendant's possession." Bucher asked Ramirez to postpone dismissing the case until after an appellate court has reviewed it. "I've made my record and the charge is dismissed," Ramirez said, "and Ms. Dundon is released." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman