MAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS TO LIFE IN GIRLFRIEND'S HEROIN DEATH

BRENTWOOD - A Newton man was sentenced yesterday to between 10 years
and life in prison for providing the heroin that killed his
18-year-old girlfriend.

A stone-faced Dante Silva, 23, of 48 Highland St. was taken to the
state prison in Concord yesterday after a Superior Court judge
sentenced him in connection with the death of Caitlyn Brady of Kingston.

"He was the only one who could have saved her from her obvious drug
overdose," Judge Tina Nadeau said in delivering her sentence
yesterday. "He chose to leave Caitlyn alone and suffering."

Those words left Silva's mother, Holly Palmer, confused and
distraught. Palmer has disputed the prosecution's allegation that
Silva abandoned his girlfriend.

But the sentence left Gayle Brady, Caitlyn Brady's mother, glad to
see "Caitlyn finally gets some justice."

"I'm elated, I'm happy," Gayle Brady said shortly after the verdict.
"I'm thrilled to death."

Prosecutors alleged that Silva, who was using heroin with Brady at
his family's house the night of March 14, 2006, left the young woman
to die after she overdosed in the early morning hours of March 15.

Silva went to his first day of work in Hudson, Mass., about 5 a.m. on
March 15. On his way, he dumped a shoebox full of drug paraphernalia
into a trash bin in Plaistow. He was caught disposing of the drugs on
a surveillance camera.

At 10:30 a.m., Brady died in Silva's bedroom, according to the state
medical examiner's office.

At 12:30 p.m., Silva called his grandmother, Jackie Silva, and asked
her to check on Caitlyn. Jackie Silva found the young woman dead.

But Palmer, Silva's mother, has said she went into the bedroom twice
that morning - once about 5 a.m. and once at 7:30 a.m. Both times,
Brady was snoring and appeared fine, she said.

"There was so much evidence that was not put in the trial," Palmer said.

The case is a landmark one for the Rockingham County attorney's
office. This is the first time prosecutors were able to use a New
Hampshire law that allows second-degree murder penalties for those
who provide drugs that kill.

"This is a history-setting case for the county and for the state,"
said County Attorney Jim Reams. "This is history being made and I
think it's good history."

But Silva's attorney, Mark Sisti, has said the law was grossly
misused in this case.

Sisti has argued that the law is designed to impose lengthy prison
sentences on drug dealers, not on those who simply use drugs with friends.

Sisti also pointed out that the alleged dealer who sold Silva and
Brady the heroin - Jay Simes of Kingston - still is free.

Simes will face trial, according to Reams. But the county attorney
declined to say what kind of sentence prosecutors would seek in that case.

Meanwhile, Silva awaits word on his seven-part appeal from prison.

"They're taking him to Concord," his mother said. "That's a big jail
and he's just a little guy."

Silva's attorney declined to say whether he would appeal the sentence
itself - a move that could put Silva at risk for an even stricter
sentence, up to 18 years to life.

But Sisti vowed to appeal the verdict, which he called unconstitutional.