VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) – A Venango County jury took just three hours to convict an Emlenton man on Thursday of first-degree felony drug delivery resulting in the death of Kayla Dunlap.
Venango County District Attorney Shawn White said he was pleased with the guilty verdict in the Shaun Long drug delivery trial.
“I believe the jury has correctly given that verdict, and I’m sure the person responsible was held responsible for it,” White told exploreJeffersonpa.com.
In addition to first-degree felony drug delivery resulting in death, Long was also found guilty of the following charges:
– Hinder Apprehension/Prosecution-Conceal/Destroy Evidence, Felony 3
– Hinder Apprehension/Prosecution-False Info To LEO, Felony 3
– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony (two counts)
– Involuntary Manslaughter, Misdemeanor 1
– Abuse Of Corpse, Misdemeanor 2
– False Reports – Reported Offense Did Not Occur, Misdemeanor 2
– Tamper With/Fabricate Physical Evidence, Misdemeanor 2
– Obstruct Admin Law/Other Govt Function, Misdemeanor 2
– Intentional Possession of Controlled Substance By Person Not Registered, Misdemeanor
– Use/Possession Of Drug Paraphernalia, Misdemeanor
He was found not guilty on one felony count of Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver.
White said the officers working the case deserve a great deal of the credit for its successful prosecution.
“I’m also very happy with the investigators working this case,” White said. “Not many people work as hard as these two state troopers did to make sure that what factually happened to Kayla was brought to the surface.”
The maximum sentence on the first-degree felony drug delivery resulting in death charge is twenty years in prison, according to White.
Sentencing for Long is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on March 31.
He is currently lodged in the Venango County Jail.
The verdict followed a morning of closing statements from both the defense and the prosecution.
Defense Closing Statement
Defense attorney Joseph Ryan took an interesting position by noting that there were several of the charges he did not intend to dispute and expected the jury to find Long guilty including possession of methadone, possession of drug paraphernalia, and abuse of a corpse.
“I don’t want to ask you to waste time in deliberation going over those counts when there is ample evidence,” Ryan noted.
However, he argued many of the other counts did not have such ample evidence and had room for more than a reasonable doubt.
His argument against the manufacture of methamphetamine charge centered around O’Day’s testimony that the suitcase found in Long’s home and the items inside that were related to the manufacture of methamphetamine belonged to her and had been used by her in the past.
“You heard her acknowledge that she made methamphetamine,” he said.
In regard to the charges involving hindering apprehension or prosecution, Ryan stated that Long was in no way acting to protect O’Day and was only acting to protect himself.
Finally, honing in on the two major charges, Ryan argued that while there was evidence, in the form of testimony and text messages, that Long was dealing in illicit substances, there was room for more than a reasonable doubt that he provided those substances to Dunlap.
“We heard testimony that Shaun didn’t like Kayla and didn’t want her around,” he noted.
“We also heard testimony that he had, on multiple occasions, verbalized that he would not deliver to Dunlap.”
According to Ryan, the mostly likely scenario seemed to be that O’Day had supplied Dunlap with the drugs that lead to her overdose death.
“Grace was the only person who would have benefited from delivering to Kayla. She testified that they had been involved romantically.”
Ryan argued that the evidence that Long didn’t want to supply Dunlap with drugs, coupled with O’Day’s history with Dunlap, and the text messages that indicate O’Day was dealing in drugs, as well, all add up to a likelihood that O’Day provided the substances that led to Dunlap’s death.
He also directly questioned O’Day’s credibility in her testimony, noting that while she claimed to have been padlocked inside the trailer, there seemed to be no evidence of a padlock on the front door. He also pointed to O’Day’s text message about Dunlap’s previous overdose.
“I would argue Grace had a history of providing drugs to Kayla and would argue that her delivery of drugs caused Kayla’s death.”
Prosecution Closing Statement
District Attorney Shawn White began his closing statement by stating the jury had a “tough job” in this case. White noted that some of the difficulty was due to the nature of the case.
“In an overdose death case, you’re dealing with addicts and dealers, and addicts and dealers lie,” White said.
According to White, one of the major components of the drug delivery resulting in death charge is the fact that even if the jury chose to believe that O’Day gave the drugs to Dunlap, they still had to consider who gave the drugs to O’Day.
“The dealer is still liable,” he stated.
White argued the origin of the drugs was clear in this case.
“The drug dealer was right there with the girl dying in his house.”
In fact, the investigation was able to pinpoint Long as a suspect so quickly, White noted, he had police at his door within 24 hours of the discovery of Dunlap’s body.
White argued the evidence against Long began to mount quickly, from the cell phone mapping that showed that Long had not only lied about his whereabouts, but that he had been at the location where Dunlap’s body was discovered during the time the body was dropped there, to the DNA evidence found in his vehicle later.
He also pointed to the phone records of multiple text messages, as well as the “owe sheets,” that indicated Long was moving large quantities of fentanyl over the proceeding months, with testimony from both Adams and O’Day that seemed to confirm both the scale of the operation and the time period involved.
“There couldn’t be better evidence of his lifestyle,” White said.
According to White, the clincher was really the one particular text, from October 2, that noted the danger of the strength of the drugs Long was providing, and stated “Kayla is proof of that.”
“I believe, based on the evidence, there is no reasonable doubt here,” White said.
Deliberations
The jury went into deliberations shortly after noon on Thursday, and came back with a verdict shortly after 3 p.m.
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