WEST ALLIS MAN ACCUSED OF RECKLESS HOMICIDE IN METHADONE DEATH

Waukesha - For the second time in four months, Waukesha County
prosecutors have invoked the state's seldom-used Len Bias law to file
a homicide charge in an overdose involving methadone.

Like a case in December, the first-degree reckless homicide charge
was filed Thursday after an inquest by the Waukesha County district
attorney's office that found methadone was a key ingredient in a
"poison cocktail," the mixing of multiple psychotropic drugs.

Methadone's traditional use has been in liquid form to treat addicts
in opioid programs, commonly called methadone clinics. But as it has
become increasingly popular as a prescription pain killer,
toxicologists across the country have seen a spike in methadone-related deaths.

In 2005, methadone played a role in four of the 19 fatal overdoses
investigated by the Waukesha County's medical examiner.

The homicide charge filed Thursday against Alton J. Davis III, 35, of
West Allis, concerns the April 18, 2005, death of Daniel S. Bruner,
40, at Davis' former Waukesha home.

Bruner died in Davis' upper flat where the two went with others in
the early morning hours after a night of heavy drinking. While there,
according to the complaint, Davis provided Bruner with two
40-milligram tablets of methadone that he obtained with a prescription.

The complaint gives the following account:

Emergency personnel were summoned to the home after Bruner had lost
consciousness. As others in the home wept and bickered loudly,
firefighters tried unsuccessfully to revive Bruner.

Police were told by Davis and others about heavy drinking the night
before and marijuana use. His wife, Racheal Davis, now 33, told
police that her husband had given Bruner two prescription methadone tablets.

Racheal Davis handed over her husband's prescription bottle to
officers and explained that Bruner coughed the two tablets back up
after first ingesting them but kept them down after ingesting them a
second time.

When he was confronted at the scene, Alton Davis denied giving Bruner
the tablets and claimed Bruner must have found his prescription bottle.

Pathologists subsequently attributed Bruner's death to "multi-drug
toxicity," after alcohol, cocaine and methadone "among other things"
were found in his system during an autopsy.

Last month, Davis changed his story, telling investigators that on
the morning Bruner died, Davis brought his methadone bottle from his
bedroom to the kitchen where he and Bruner played cards, drank and
smoked marijuana. He admitted giving Bruner two tablets after Bruner
asked what they were.

"(Davis) stated that he did not mean to hurt Danny and couldn't take
the fact that he had given him the methadone that killed him,"
investigators reported.

Davis is scheduled to make his initial court appearance May 3 on the
homicide charge that carries a prison term of up to 40 years.

The Len Bias law enables authorities to prosecute people who supply
drugs that contribute to an overdose death. The law is named after a
University of Maryland basketball player who died of a drug overdose in 1986.

It is used infrequently because of the difficulty authorities
typically have in getting drug users to cooperate and provide
reliable information during investigations into fatal overdoses.

But it has been invoked in two other recent cases in the Milwaukee area.

In December, Mary R. Dundon, 24, of Oak Creek was charged with
first-degree reckless homicide in Waukesha County for the Jan. 25,
2003, death of Angela Franceschetti, 24, of New Berlin.

In Washington County, prosecutors have used the law to charge Richard
S. Dinkelmann, 41, of Mayville in the Jan. 24, 2004,
methadone-related death of Robert S. "Itchy" Iczkowski, 21, of the
Town of Jackson.

The overdose of Iczkowski was one of four deaths in Washington County
in 2004 in which methadone played a role, according to Washington
County Medical Examiner Kelly McAndrews.