At a status conference on Friday, the attorney for a Saltsburg man petitioned Westmoreland County Judge Christopher Feliciani to drop charges of drug delivery resulting in death.
22-year-old Dylan Blair is accused of providing the deadly mix of heroin and fentanyl that killed 38-year-old Michelle Spillar at her home in Derry Borough on the day after Christmas, 2016. Spillar’s body was found next to her bed with an empty stamp bag and two full bags of heroin beside her. Toxicology reports determined that the cause of death was an “acute combined drug toxicity” including fentanyl and two other drugs that were not heroin.
Attorney Emily Smarto filed a motion Friday claiming that since the autopsy did not specifically blame drugs provided by Blair for Spillar’s death, the prosecution cannot therefore prove its case. She also challenges the state’s statute regarding drug delivery resulting in death, contending that it is vague, does not provide for the specific mental state of the defendant, and does not adequately define what is prohibited conduct.
Judge Feliciani will schedule a hearing later in the year to consider Smarto’s motion for dismissal.
Blair was tracked down by Westmoreland County detectives and captured in at the Days Inn in Burrell Township last May. When the detectives entered Blair’s room, they found another man, Edward Russian of Saltsburg, in the midst of overdosing. Russian revived and eventually pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia. Blair pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance. Both were sentenced to one year probation.
