A man who gave methadone to a friend, allegedly resulting in the death of that friend, entered a guilty plea today to criminal sale of a controlled substance.
District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said in court that there was no homicide charge in the case, but that a man did die and his brother asked to speak at the sentencing of Joel W. Eagleson.
The victim was Donald Burnell, 41, of Le Roy. He died in early September, 2009.
Eagleson, who has a prior non-violent-felony conviction for robbery, 3rd, in 2004, faces up to four years in prison.
Under the law, Friedman said, you don't need to accept money for drugs to be convicted of criminal sale.
UPDATE, Friday, 10:26 a.m.: We've received a couple of more details from the Sheriff's Office not available in court yesterday. Eagleson is 45. He was arrested in Arizona on March 31 and then extradited to New York.
