The trial of Brenda Zillyette, accused of providing drugs that led to the overdose death of an 18-year-old Elma man in 2009, ended Thursday when the jury was unable to arrive at a verdict.
It was the second trial for Zillyette, whose conviction in 2009 was overturned by the state Supreme Court. She has already served four and a half years in prison and was released in 2013.
Prosecuting attorney Gerald Fuller said Thursday he will request a new trial.
In the recent trial, deliberation began Wednesday afternoon after a day and a half of trial proceedings. During deliberations, the jury asked to see medical reports for 18-year-old Austin Burrows, who had methadone, Xanax, hydroxyalprazolam and aminoclonazepam in his system at the time of his death, according to a toxicology report. Dr. Jennifer Sounders, who worked on the case, stated in the report that Burrows’ death was due to acute methadone intoxication. The report also explained that it is not possible to determine the timing of drug use or quantity in Burrows’ blood levels post mortem. The jury’s foreman was the dissenting vote in the 11-1 decision for conviction.
In 2013, the state Supreme Court ruled that the prosecution failed to specify what particular substance(s) Zillyette allegedly provided to Austin Burrows.
Zillyette’s defense attorney, David Mistachkin, said the juror’s reasoning for voting not guilty mirrored the defense’s argument that there is not solid evidence Burrows died as a result of drugs provided to him by Zillyette. Mistachkin cited the fact that pill bottles with labels ripped off of them were found in Burrows’ bedroom at the time of his death, and that Burrows’ history as a drug user make it possible that the drugs that killed him weren’t from Zillyette.
“(The juror) basically agreed with our theory because there was that reasonable doubt,” said Mistachkin.
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