SMETHPORT — Despite defense requests for postponement, the February trial for Roberto Perez will move forward as scheduled.
A ruling issued Thursday by McKean County President Judge John Pavlock denied a defense request to continue the trial, in which Perez is facing charges including drug delivery resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
Perez’s court-appointed attorney, Christopher Martini of Ridgway, filed motions to hire a forensic pathologist to review the cause of death, obtain a private investigator and continue the trial. Pavlock’s opinion and order addressed all three.
Perez is set to go to trial Feb. 5-7 on allegations he sold a fentanyl patch to Amber McKinney, who in turn shared it with Derek Clay. McKinney, who was also charged, found Clay dead in her home on Oct. 14, 2016, due to a fentanyl overdose.
In the matter of a pathologist, Martini said he wanted an expert to review the findings that the cause of death was an overdose of illegal narcotics. At a hearing earlier this month, Pavlock had approved $1,500 in funds to the defense for the review. However, on Jan. 16, Martini filed a motion naming a specific doctor, and noting the doctor charged a $5,000 retainer fee and would not be available to testify on the dates set for the trial.
The judge wrote, “the defense does not assert that the (prosecution) expert’s findings are inaccurate, just that they might be.” Pavlock wrote the defense cannot rely on speculation that an expert might find something beneficial to them as cause enough to expend public funds on that expert.
“There is insufficient showing that (Perez) will suffer legal prejudice unless the allotted amount is increased,” the judge wrote, denying the motion to increase the funds from $1,500 to $5,000.
Regarding the request for a private investigator, the judge indicated that Martini lacked specificity on how much he was seeking, saying only that there may be a question on the source of the patch that allegedly caused Clay’s death.
“The court cannot approve a ‘blank check’ for defense investigator purposes,” Pavlock noted. He approved up to $2,000 for an investigator “to investigate the fentanyl patch source issue,” the opinion read.
Pavlock denied the motion to continue the case, quoting from a ruling made by Senior Judge John Cleland in the Jerry Sandusky case. In that case, the defense asked for more time to review “voluminous discovery material,” some of which the defense had just obtained. Cleland denied the request, saying in part “the reality of our system of justice is that no date for trial is ever perfect, but some dates are better than others.”
Pavlock added that this case has been listed for trial since November, and it’s unclear why the defense didn’t make these motions sooner. A vague assertion that an investigator may obtain evidence beneficial to the defense is “too speculative at this time to warrant the grant of a continuance,” the opinion stated.
Perez remains incarcerated in McKean County Jail in lieu of $300,000 bail.
