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Man heads to court in drug-death related case

Justin Newman

CHICORA — A Brady Township man will stand trial for allegedly providing the fentanyl-laced heroin to a 33-year-old man who died of an overdose in 2015.

District Judge Lewis Stoughton on Tuesday ordered Justin O. Newman, 28, held for court on several charges — including a top count of drug delivery resulting in death — at a preliminary hearing.

Newman is accused of providing stamp bags of heroin to Joshua Lee Stitt of Donegal Township on Sept. 16, 2015, after an alleged drug deal in Pittsburgh's Homestead section.

Stitt and Newman had traveled with the defendant's then-girlfriend, Julia L. Zaludek, 26, of Fenelton, to buy the drugs at a fast-food restaurant parking lot.

Zaludek and the alleged dealer, William C. Thomas III, 32, formerly of Homestead, were also charged in connection with Stitt's death.

Thomas, who is in state prison in connection with an unrelated drug case, is awaiting trial on charges similar to Newman's.

Zaludek on April 4 pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in her case. In exchange, court records showed, prosecutors withdrew the most serious charges, drug delivery resulting in death and criminal use of a communication facility.

She is to be sentenced next week.

A full report appears in Wednesday's Butler Eagle.

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