News (Media Awareness Project) - US PA: Man Who Injected Son Likely Overdose Victim |
| Title: | US PA: Man Who Injected Son Likely Overdose Victim |
| Published On: | 1998-10-28 |
| Source: | Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-06 21:47:43 |
MAN WHO INJECTED SON LIKELY OVERDOSE VICTIM
UPPER DARBY -- A man awaiting trial on charges that he injected his
15-year-old son with heroin died last week of an apparent drug overdose.
Jerome Lewis Cutler Jr. died at 11:59 p.m. Oct. 19 at his mother's residence
in the 400 block of Copley Road, a spokeswoman from the Medical Examiner's
Office said yesterday.
His death was "an apparent intravenous street-drug death, pending toxicology
studies" that will be returned in about four weeks, the spokeswoman said.
Cutler's son, Jerome Cutler 3d, 15, nearly died of an overdose after his
father injected him with heroin July 12, according to Upper Darby police.
The boy spent three days in the intensive care unit of Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia.
His father was charged with aggravated assault, child endangerment,
corruption of a minor and drug-related charges.
At a preliminary hearing Sept. 2, young Cutler told of how his father
injected him with heroin that night and two other times so that if the boy
were "curious" about heroin, he could try it safely. He also testified that
his father fed him some "big pills" the night of the overdose.
His lawyer, James F. Brose of Media, argued that Cutler had been trying to
protect his son from dirty needles that could cause disease.
Folcroft District Justice Deborah Truscello-McHugh set Cutler's cash-only
bail at 10 percent of $500,000, but Cutler did not post it and was sent to
Delaware County Prison.
Cutler might have remained there until his trial, but on Sept. 11, Brose
renegotiated his bail with the District Attorney's Office. It was changed to
$50,000 straight bail, and Cutler was able to post it by putting up some
property, said John LaRosa, a spokesman for Delaware County Court.
Cutler was released Sept. 14, according to a records spokeswoman at the
prison, and placed under house arrest. He was allowed out of his mother's
house only to see a therapist and to visit his mother, who was ill, at
Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital.
"He never had an opportunity to tell his side of the story," Brose said
yesterday.
Brose described his client, a former Delaware County corrections officer, as
a "kind and considerate person" who had suffered from heroin addiction and
had sought treatment.
Services and burial were private.
Checked-by: Rolf Ernst
UPPER DARBY -- A man awaiting trial on charges that he injected his
15-year-old son with heroin died last week of an apparent drug overdose.
Jerome Lewis Cutler Jr. died at 11:59 p.m. Oct. 19 at his mother's residence
in the 400 block of Copley Road, a spokeswoman from the Medical Examiner's
Office said yesterday.
His death was "an apparent intravenous street-drug death, pending toxicology
studies" that will be returned in about four weeks, the spokeswoman said.
Cutler's son, Jerome Cutler 3d, 15, nearly died of an overdose after his
father injected him with heroin July 12, according to Upper Darby police.
The boy spent three days in the intensive care unit of Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia.
His father was charged with aggravated assault, child endangerment,
corruption of a minor and drug-related charges.
At a preliminary hearing Sept. 2, young Cutler told of how his father
injected him with heroin that night and two other times so that if the boy
were "curious" about heroin, he could try it safely. He also testified that
his father fed him some "big pills" the night of the overdose.
His lawyer, James F. Brose of Media, argued that Cutler had been trying to
protect his son from dirty needles that could cause disease.
Folcroft District Justice Deborah Truscello-McHugh set Cutler's cash-only
bail at 10 percent of $500,000, but Cutler did not post it and was sent to
Delaware County Prison.
Cutler might have remained there until his trial, but on Sept. 11, Brose
renegotiated his bail with the District Attorney's Office. It was changed to
$50,000 straight bail, and Cutler was able to post it by putting up some
property, said John LaRosa, a spokesman for Delaware County Court.
Cutler was released Sept. 14, according to a records spokeswoman at the
prison, and placed under house arrest. He was allowed out of his mother's
house only to see a therapist and to visit his mother, who was ill, at
Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital.
"He never had an opportunity to tell his side of the story," Brose said
yesterday.
Brose described his client, a former Delaware County corrections officer, as
a "kind and considerate person" who had suffered from heroin addiction and
had sought treatment.
Services and burial were private.
Checked-by: Rolf Ernst
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