JURY ACQUITS MAN IN DEATH

Authorities Say He Gave Drug to Man Who Died

Kellen P. Payne went to sleep on the living room couch at the home of
Coleman L. James the night before James was to graduate from Longwood
University.

Payne, 24, was still on the couch when James' family left their home in the
4300 block of Otterburn Road to attend the graduation last May 11.

He appeared to be asleep, but he had died or was near death from a
combination of alcohol, methadone and Xanax, a medical examiner testified
yesterday.

Authorities contended that Justin P. Dejarnette, 23, was criminally liable
for Payne's death because he had given the victim the methadone, a drug
used to treat chronic pain and to wean heroin users from their craving for
the more-addictive drug.

A Chesterfield County Circuit Court jury disagreed. It deliberated less
than an hour yesterday before acquitting Dejarnette of felony second-degree
murder. Dejarnette was charged under a doctrine that makes an unintentional
homicide a murder if it occurs during the commission of another felony, in
this case, drug distribution.

James and another man, John W. Karakaris of Meherrin, have been charged
with being an accessory before the fact to felony second-degree murder.
Their cases are pending.

James, 23, was the key witness against Dejarnette.

He said he had bought eight 10-mg methadone pills earlier on May 10 from
Karakaris and stopped by Dejarnette's home on Grayland Avenue later in the
day to buy an ounce of marijuana and 2 to 4 ounces of psychedelic mushrooms.

James said his older brother, younger sister and Payne came by around 7
p.m., and he and Payne went with them Friday to Cheers on Brown's Island.
Eventually, they ended up at James' home.

Before they left, his sister consumed 11/2 pills of methadone and his
brother swallowed a half pill.

He also offered a pill to Dejarnette and his girlfriend, but they said they
didn't want them, James recalled.

James said he recalled seeing a hand-to-hand motion between Dejarnette and
Payne and assumed Dejarnette had given the pill to Payne.

But he said, "I was stoned, drunk and 'shrooming and it was eight months
ago. I can't recall every little detail that happened."

James acknowledged on cross-examination that he hoped to get a lower
sentence because of his cooperation, as he had done in 2000 when he
provided information to authorities after he was charged with four drug
felonies. He was convicted of two misdemeanors and served no jail time.

Medical examiner Deborah Kay and toxicologist Julia Pearson testified that
Payne stopped breathing because of the combined effect of alcohol,
methadone and Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication.

Dejarnette testified that he sold James marijuana, but not mushrooms, and
never gave Payne the methadone. Instead, he put it on a table and Payne
picked it up several minutes later.

Defense attorneys David Gammino and Jason Anthony also called forensic
pathologist Jack Daniel to testify that he believed the methadone had
little or nothing to do with Payne's death.

Testimony suggested that Payne had consumed enough alcohol to push his
blood alcohol content to nearly three times the level at which a motorist
is presumed to be drunk. The methadone in his blood was consistent with one
pill, not nearly enough to kill him, Daniel said.

He said it was more likely that the alcohol relaxed the muscle in his
tongue so that it blocked his airway.