DRUG DEATH CASE THROWN OUT OF COURT

Prosecution Can't Prove Defendant Provided Methadone

Waukesha - It took authorities the better part of three years to put
together a homicide case in the 2003 fatal drug overdose of Angela
Franceschetti, but when the case faced its first real test in a
courtroom, a judge threw it out.

Although a woman who partied with Franceschetti the night before she
died admitted supplying her with LSD, she denied giving her any
methadone, and it was a combination of the two that killed the New
Berlin woman, according to court records.

Because of that, according to Waukesha County Circuit Judge Ralph
Ramirez, authorities have only half of the evidence they need to keep
their homicide case on track.

"I do not condone this behavior," Ramirez said in tossing the case
after a recent preliminary hearing. "I believe that it is illegal and
that it's unfortunate.

"But the question is not whether I like it."

Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, who filed the
first-degree reckless homicide case against Mary R. Dundon, disagrees
and is seeking approval from the state attorney general's office to
appeal the dismissal.

"We didn't think we needed to link the methadone (to Dundon)," said
Bucher, who believes Dundon gave both drugs to Franceschetti.
"Wisconsin law indicates that any drug that is delivered that is a
substantial factor in a death is enough" to support the homicide charge.

"Our expert said it (LSD) was a substantial factor in her death," he added.

The case that Bucher and New Berlin police put together against
Dundon, of Oak Creek, is further complicated by information that the
drugs that killed Franceschetti were given to her while she was
partying in Chicago and that Illinois authorities hold the
prosecution jurisdiction, according to Ramirez.

Moreover, the witness who linked Dundon to the methadone given
Franceschetti has become problematic for authorities. Bucher said he
was "unable" to call her as a witness for the preliminary hearing.

"We have issues with her that I'd rather not get into at this time," he said.

On the night of Jan. 24, 2003, Franceschetti, 24, went out for the
evening with a friend, Nashata Norwood, and Dundon, whom she met
through Norwood, according to the criminal complaint. During the
course of the night, the three went to Chicago "to party," stopping
at "various nightclubs" and returning to the Milwaukee area the next
morning, the complaint says.

The complaint and the medical examiner's report give the following account:

Hours later, while Franceschetti lay in bed dying, Dundon telephoned
her and left a voice mail message.

"Hey, Angie, this is Mary," Dundon said, according to the complaint.
"Umm, I am just calling to check on you.

"I am sorry I gave you so many of those things yesterday. (I) was
kinda (profanity) up and wasn't really keeping track.

"So I guess I'm a little concerned and I apologize."

After Franceschetti was found dead, police learned about the voice
mail message from the dead woman's family and confronted Dundon.

Dundon, a 25-year-old recovering heroin addict, told Detective James
Jansen that she gave Franceschetti some LSD in Chicago, but that was all.

It was Norwood who said the methadone also came from Dundon, telling
police that in a telephone conversation the two had before they
learned of Franceschetti's death, Dundon said she had given
Franceschetti methadone.

"I gave her too many pills," Norwood said Dundon told her.

Later, after learning that Franceschetti had died, Dundon became
"very hysterical," according to Norwood.

"I am going to jail," Dundon exclaimed, according to Norwood. "My life is over.

"I don't want to go to jail for this."

During Dundon's recent preliminary hearing, a pathologist and
toxicologist testified that a combination of LSD and methadone killed
Franceschetti and that the LSD alone would not have been fatal.

Jansen testified that Dundon admitted to him that she bought the LSD
at a bar in Chicago and gave it to Franceschetti there. Jansen added
that when he showed Dundon a methadone pill found in Franceschetti's
pocket after her death, Dundon insisted it didn't come from her.

"That's different than what I gave her," Dundon insisted, according to Jansen.

Defense attorney Samuel Benedict urged Ramirez to dismiss the case,
primarily contending that the LSD Dundon admitted giving
Franceschetti could not have killed her.

"The evidence seems to suggest that there were other drugs
(methadone) that were not delivered by the defendant that caused her
death," Benedict said. "We don't know how that was obtained."

Ramirez said that while the criminal complaint linked Dundon to the
methadone through Norwood, the link to send the case to trial
(Norwood) was missing.

Ramirez added that Dundon committed no crime in Wisconsin that could
be a basis for sending the case against her to trial.

"I believe a felony of delivery of LSD occurred," he said. "There's
enough evidence to believe that, but that it occurred in the state of
Illinois and it's not for me to consider."

Bucher told Ramirez he was "in error."

"What we do know is that this defendant delivered the LSD," the
prosecutor said. "What we do know is that she refused to admit that
she delivered the methadone.

"That doesn't mean she didn't. What we do know is that methadone was
found in the defendant's possession."

Bucher asked Ramirez to postpone dismissing the case until after an
appellate court has reviewed it.

"I've made my record and the charge is dismissed," Ramirez said, "and
Ms. Dundon is released."