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Parlee's fate in jury's hands
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Published: September 18, 2009
An Iredell County jury on Thursday began deliberating the fate of a 20-year-old man charged with selling a prescription painkiller to a 15-year-old who died after taking the pill.
Joshua James Parlee is charged with second-degree murder, possession with intent to sell/deliver Schedule II and sale/delivery of Schedule II to a minor.
Parlee withdrew his not guilty plea on the possession charge Thursday afternoon, and will be sentenced when the jury reaches a decision on the other two charges.
Prosecutors finished their week-long case Thursday with Dr. Donald Jason, a pathologist with Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Jason told the jury that 15-year-old Micael Lane died of an acute oxymorphone overdose.
The defense presented only one witness, 17-year-old Ryan Lee, who was acquainted with Parlee, Lane and Nicholas Bolton, who nearly died the same night as Lane.
He testified that he saw all three at the movies on the night of Jan. 11, 2008, and sat next to Lane during the film.
Lee said Bolton, who was also 15, got up and left the movies at one point after getting $20 from Lane.
When he returned, Lee said, he told the group he bought a pill from Parlee.
Testimony offered by Bolton on Wednesday indicated that both he and Lane were present when the transaction took place.
Lane did not know Parlee, but Bolton knew of him. Lane and Bolton knew each other from school a short time as Lane had moved to the area about two months before his death.
In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Lynn Gullett talked about the state's case in the one remaining drug charge.
She said the evidence was simple.
"Nicholas Bolton told you that he handed the money to Joshua Parlee and he handed a pill to him," she said.
Gullett said both Bolton and Lane were younger than 16 but older than 13, which meets the requirements of the charge.
Defense attorney Ed Booker argue that many people were responsible for Lane's death, from Joshua's mother, Victoria Brown, who gave him the pills, to the other teens, to Lane and Bolton.
"They're asking you to hold this 18-year-old kid (Parlee's age at the time) responsible," he said.
He said Parlee displayed no malice in his actions that night.
Booker said he and a number of other teens wanted to get high.
"He had no idea this was a dangerous drug," he said. "If he did, would he take them himself?"
Booker said Parlee does hold some responsibility, but not to a criminal extent.
"He vehemently denies the murder," Booker said.
Assistant District Attorney Mikko Red Arrow told the jury that Parlee was familiar with oxymorphone because his mother had been taking it for about a month.
Red Arrow referred to the testimony of another teen, Samuel Bacon, in which Bacon said Parlee "loves these pills ... He knew the pills were dangerous."
He said Parlee's actions during a license checkpoint on the night of Jan. 11, 2008, demonstrated he knew the dangers of the pills. He hid the pills in his pants while displaying a bag of marijuana to the deputy, Red Arrow said.
Two other teens were searched and the oxymorphone pills confiscated by deputies. Two were cited for the oxymorphone possession and Parlee for possession of marijuana.
"Who's the only person in that traffic stop that doesn't want to get caught with the pills?" he asked the jury.
Red Arrow used Booker's argument about responsibility to close his statement to the jury.
"Let's talk about responsibility," he said. "A 15-year-old boy is dead."
The jury began deliberating shortly before 4 p.m. and was dismissed for the day at 5:15 p.m.
Deliberations will resume at 9:30 a.m. today.
Note: Victoria Brown is facing charges in this case but has not yet come to trial. She is charged with possession with intent to sell, manufacture, deliver Schedule II and sale/delivery of Schedule II.
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