Prosecutor refutes defense call for throwing out fentanyl-blowing verdict

LACONIA — A county prosecutor has asked a Superior Court Judge to reject a motion to set aside the jury’s guilty verdict of an Alton man convicted of blowing fentanyl dust close to an Alton police officer.

Assistant Belknap County Adam Woods filed a motion in Belknap Superior Court Thursday rebutting a motion the filed last week by Eric Weil’s attorney, Harry Starbranch, who argued the verdict against his client should be set aside. Starbranch said no evidence was presented during his trial that showed fentanyl is a deadly weapon as defined by state law.

Weil, 50, of 6 Gilmans Corner Road, in Alton, was found guilty on Sept. 13 of reckless conduct — a Class B felony potentially punishable by 2½ to five years in prison. Weil was accused of blowing a white powdery substance — later found to be fentanyl — in the direction of Alton police Officer Jamison Fellows who, with two other officers, had gone to Weil’s home to remove a house guest who had been found using drugs. The prosecution had argued that purposely exposing someone to the dust makes fentanyl, in essence, a deadly weapon.

Woods called the defense’s motion “an attack on the court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss (the case) at the close of (the prosecution’s) case.”

The motion goes on to state there was testimony during the trial that other officers had seen Weil blowing the dust, and in addition that powered residue was found to be on Fellow’s uniform. Moreover, there was evidence showing that officers use extreme care to avoid physical contact with dangerous drugs, and that Weil and Belinda McLin, his significant other, “were aware that contact with fentanyl would be harmful.”

Woods rejected the defense’s argument that the prosecution had improperly asked the jury to hypothesize or speculate that because police and laboratory used protective a reasonable inference could be the white powder … could be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury.

“The jury relied on its common sense regarding the opioid crisis that is affecting our state … and that dozens (of fentanyl users) have died from overdoses,” the motion states.

The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the motions on Oct. 22.