Man ordered to trial in overdose death
A Fayette County man facing charges in a Robinson Township man’s overdose death last year was ordered to stand trial Thursday.
District Judge Traci McDonald held charges of drug delivery resulting in death; two counts of delivery of heroin and cocaine; criminal use of a communication facillity; two counts of possessing heroin and cocaine; and a paraphernalia charge against Myron M. Moore Jr., 31, of North Union Township, for court during a preliminary hearing at her office in Cecil Township.
McDonald dismissed a second criminal use charge during the preliminary hearing, Deputy District Attorney Jerry Moschetta said following the hearing.
The case stems from the Feb. 18, 2015, overdose death of 35-year-old Justin Halyak.
Moschetta said Halyak’s then-fiancée, Jessica Pavone, Washington County Coroner Tim Warco and McDonald police Officer Brad Resnik, who filed the charges last month, testified during the hearing.
Police allege Moore sold heroin to Halyak and Pavone at a New Salem, Fayette County, convenience store Feb. 17, 2015, according to an affidavit supporting the charges.
The couple snorted and injected the heroin at their home on Sunset Drive later that day. Halyak began nodding off and then vomiting that night. Pavone called 911, and Halyak was pronounced dead early in the morning.
Warco later found heroin to be the cause of death.
Pavone cooperated in the ensuing investigation – which involved multiple agencies in Washington and Fayette counties and the state attorney general’s office – in part by participating in a “buy-bust” 10 days later that helped investigators identify Moore, according to court documents.
When told of Halyak’s death, “Moore was observed shaking uncontrollably and began to cry,” Resnik wrote. “Moore further stated he did not kill ‘that guy’ and that he never meant to hurt anyone.”
He allegedly confessed to meeting Pavone and Halyak and selling her half a gram of heroin for $300.
“This is a very important issue, and it deserves a thorough investigation, which Officer Resnik prior to the charges being filed, and the commonwealth is prepared to go to trial as quickly as possible,” Moschetta said.
Blaine Jones, Moore’s attorney, wasn’t immediately available for comment Thursday afternoon.
Moore is being held in the Washington County jail on $500,000 bond.
Moschetta said the drug delivery resulting in death charge against Moore is “definitely the first (in Washngton County court) since 2011,” when state law was rewritten to amend the offense from third-degree murder to a first-degree felony.
The newer version made pursuing the charge easier for authorities, according to a Superior Court opinion issued last year.
In that case, the appellate court affirmed a Centre County man’s four- to 12-year sentence in the death of a woman he gave heroin and the prescription drug Klonopin, finding the prosecution didn’t have to prove someone intended to cause the victim’s death to secure a conviction.