Overdose death case bound over to court

MIFFLINTOWN - A Juniata County man charged with homicide and other related charges stemming from allegedly supplying a friend with narcotics that caused his death had his case bound over to court on Wednesday after a preliminary hearing at Magisterial District Judge Barbara Lyter's office.

Eric Scott Zeiders, 33, of Mifflintown, is charged with criminal homicide, drug delivery resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person, court documents indicate.

Police allege Zeiders supplied his friend, Randall Thompson, with methadone, which he took and overdosed on July 11, according to court documents.

Zeider's attorney, Christopher Bashner, spent much of the hearing trying to debunk the autopsy report issued by Dr. Harry Kamerow, who ruled Thompson died as a result of a drug overdose.

Kamerow testified via speaker phone from Mount Nittany Medical Center and said that the only narcotic found in Thompson's system was methadone, frequently used to treat recovering heroin addicts.

Kamerow testified the amount of methadone found in Thompson's system was sufficient enough to cause his death because he had no tolerance to the drug.

Documents state Thompson's wife, Amy Thompson, informed police that her husband had gone to work on July 11 with Zeiders and when he returned home from work, he drank a gallon of water and vomited twice before eating dinner and then going to sleep. Documents indicate Amy Thompson told police she checked on her husband later that evening and said he was gasping for air and unresponsive. Randall Thompson subsequently was transported to Lewistown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 11 p.m. that night.

On July 13, Amy Thompson notified police that Zeiders had left a message on her husband's cell phone referring to something Zeiders had given Thompson, and Zeiders wanted to know how Thompson was feeling, according to documents.

Amy Thompson testified later during the hearing that to the best of her knowledge, her husband was not taking any illegal narcotics around the time of his death and was not prescribed methadone.

Thompson did acknowledge that her husband did have a previous addiction to alcohol, which he was treated for over a year ago at a rehabilitation facility.

Thompson also said her husband had, at one time several years ago, experimented with heroin for a couple months; however, to the best of her knowledge, her husband was not using heroin at the time of his death.

Kamerow testified that he did find track marks on Randall Thompson but he was unable to determine how old the marks were or what may or may not have been injected into his body.

The last person to testify during the hearing was Pennsylvania State Police Trooper David Clemens, who said that during the course of his investigation, he discovered Zeiders was on a methadone program and was prescribed the drug.

Clemens further testified that he interviewed Zeiders, who confessed to supplying Thompson with methadone.

Zeiders waived his formal arraignment, and pending further court action, he remains in the Juniata County Jail.