Judge throws out guilty verdict in fentanyl-blowing case

LACONIA — A judge has thrown out a guilty verdict for an Alton man charged with threatening the life of a police officer by blowing powered fentanyl into the air when the officer was nearby.

Belknap County Superior Court Justice James D. O’Neill III ruled that no evidence had been presented during the trial of Eric Weil, 50, of 6 Gilmans Corner Road, Alton, to support the prosecution’s contention that fentanyl is in and of itself a dangerous weapon.

“The court finds that the jury’s verdict in this case was conclusively against the weight of the evidence,” O’Neill wrote in the ruling which set aside the verdict that the jury returned on Sept. 13.

Calls seeking comment from the Belknap County Attorney’s Office on the ruling were not returned as of mid-afternoon Tuesday.

Weil had been tried on a charge of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, potentially punishable by a 3½- to seven-year prison term. The charge stemmed from an August 2017 incident that began when Weil called Alton police to his residence to remove a house guest who had been found using drugs.

On Oct. 22, O’Neill heard arguments on motions filed by Weil’s attorney, Harry Starbranch. O’Neill denied the defense’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, but granted the motion to set aside the verdict.

In arguing that Weil’s verdict should be set aside, Starbranch told the court that the notion that mere casual contact with fentanyl was potentially lethal, as purported by the prosecution, is speculative at best.

“It’s a myth that touching fentanyl is going to hurt you,” Starbrach said at the hearing, adding that the prosecution offered no expert testimony during the trial to support its contention.

The prosecution countered that the precautions police used at the time in handling the envelope that contained what was later determined to be fentanyl supported the assertion that any exposure to the opiate drug was potentially fatal.

O’Neill, however, disagreed.

“These general precautions would not enable a reasonable jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that fentanyl is known to cause death or serious bodily injury in the manner in which it was used. To the contrary, Officer [Jameson] Fellows’ [the alleged victim] minor symptoms suggest that the powder caused slight, temporary harm, not that it was known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury.”

At the hearing, Assistant Belknap County Attorney Adam Woods argued that the jury had reached its verdict after applying common sense about the dangers of fentanyl, deduced on publicity surrounding the state’s opioid epidemic.

“The State offered no evidence that any opioid overdoses are related to inhalation of fentanyl blown into the air,” O’Neill wrote.

He found there was an important distinction between the effects of fentanyl when it is snorted and “how the powder was used here.”

A call to Starbranch’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned.