A Barberton man rejected a plea offer from Summit County prosecutors Monday and became the first defendant in the county to go to trial for providing fentanyl or heroin to someone who died from the drug.
Prosecutors offered Kevin Ecker 15 years in prison for the multiple drug-related charges he faces, but he turned the deal down.
“I don’t feel like that’s a real offer,” Ecker, 30, told Judge Judy Hunter, who is handling Tom Parker’s docket. “I would come home an old man if I even make it that long in prison.”
Prosecutors didn’t accept defense attorney Scott Rilley’s counter offer of 10 years in prison.
A jury of eight women and four men was seated Monday in Ecker’s trial in Summit County Common Pleas Court and opening statements will be given Wednesday morning. The trial is expected to last a week.
Ecker is charged with involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs and numerous drug charges. Police say Ecker sold fentanyl to Jessica Canada Holmes, who died after taking the drug in March 2015.
Holmes’ family members who were sitting in on the trial said they’re glad the case is proceeding and that Ecker rejected the plea offer. They hope he will end up with a stiffer punishment.
“I may not be able to save my own granddaughter, but maybe I will be able to save someone else’s,” Holmes’ grandmother Pamela Mignano said, fighting tears.
The trial doesn’t include another pending charge accusing him of possessing a deadly weapon while under detention after authorities said he was caught with a “shank,” or homemade weapon, in Summit County Jail in March.
Summit is being more aggressive than similar-size Ohio counties in using the involuntary manslaughter charge to prosecute heroin or fentanyl deaths. The county has used this charge against more than two dozen people since 2013. All of the previous defendants pleaded guilty before their cases went to trial.
Jurmaine Jeffries, 28, of Akron, also was scheduled to go on trial Monday in Summit County Common Pleas Court for involuntary manslaughter, but the state charges against him were dismissed. He is instead being prosecuted federally.
Hunter, a retired Summit County judge, is handling Parker’s docket until Gov. John Kasich names his replacement. Parker recently was appointed a federal magistrate.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.