Mar 28, 2019 4 min read

A Washington County jury convicted a Philadelphia man whom authorities said was responsible for providing the drugs that killed a Deemston Borough woman in December 2016.

Jurors found Michael Martin, 36, guilty on March 21 of drug delivery resulting in death and other charges stemming from the fatal overdose of 30-year-old Stacey L. Greenawalt, whose father found her early on Dec. 6 in the bathroom of his Buckingham Road residence. Lab results show she’d died of combined toxicity of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.

Attorney Mark Adams, who represented Martin as his court-appointed conflict counsel, said he expects to appeal the case to Superior Court.

“I think there may have been some evidence that might have been admitted that probably shouldn’t have been,” Adams said.

The jury deliberated for four hours before it returned a verdict to convict Martin guilty on charges that also included charges of conspiracy, drug dealing, drug possession and possessing firearms as a convicted felon. Martin’s case was the first case to be tried in Washington County since the law was rewritten in 2011 to make it possible to convict someone for “drug delivery resulting in death” without having to prove they intended to kill the victim.

Common Pleas Judge Gary Gilman presided over Martin’s trial. Sentencing will take place in about three months. He remains in jail pending sentencing.

Greenawalt’s father told police his daughter had been gone most of the weekend and looked high when she returned home the day before. When she used drugs, she’d usually go to a West Bethlehem Township house rented by Jennifer Greene.

Two days after Greenawalt’s death, court papers show state police took trash bags from the curb in front of the address on Martindale that Greenawalt’s father had given. Inside the trash, they found stamp bags with the same markings as those found with the victim.

Police also served a search warrant on the house that day and found Martin among those inside the home.

Assistant District Attorney Rachel Wheeler said testimony showed that between August 2016 and December of that year, Martin made “approximately four” trips from Philadelphia to the house on Martindale Road where his father, Tony Briggs, lived with Greene, his partner.

Martin would bring drugs to sell to the couple, who distributed them to others. Greene and another person who lived in the house at least some of the time, Samantha Howes, were key witnesses against Martin during the trial. Howes and Charles Pugh, who was linked to the house and testified, were also involved in the drug sales.

“Michael Martin was the dealer,” Wheeler said. “Michael Martin was the source of that heroin from Philadelphia.”

Briggs, who is in state prison, was not a witness at the trial.

Text messages found in a phone believed to belong to Martin – including apparent references to drug sales and photos of three guns – were part of the prosecution’s case. The guns were never recovered.

Police said they located the phone during a search of the house. Adams said it was never proven that the phone belonged to his client.

“If your phone’s laying there, and you’re in a drug house, anyone can pick up that phone,” Adams said.

He said law enforcement officials never obtained subscriber records to show who actually owned the phone believed to belong to Martin, despite having two years to do so. Police made one unsuccessful attempt to retrieve data from the victim’s phone.

Adams said others from the house received leniency for their cooperation. Their testimony conflicted at times.

For example, Adams said Howes testified that Greene had supplied Greenawalt with heroin. Greene denied that during her testimony and called Howes a liar.

Adams said Greene did testify that she blamed herself for Greenawalt’s death.

He added that testimony also showed the house was known as a place to get drugs even before Martin showed up and Greene was known to sell drugs.

“It was a well-known drug house,” he said. “Witnesses testified that you knew you could find drugs there.”