MOUNT VERNON — On Tuesday, minutes before jury selection began in the trial of Jay W. Newland, prosecutors dismissed two charges of trafficking in drugs due to insufficient evidence. The 37-year-old Newland did, however, face a jury trial on two counts of using deception to obtain a dangerous drug.
After two hours of deliberation, Newland was convicted of one count of using deception to obtain; the other charge was dismissed by Judge Otho Eyster.
On the charge dismissed by Eyster, Eyster ruled that the alleged offense occurred in Franklin County and that the Mount Vernon court was an improper venue to try the case.
Newland’s attorney, Phillip Lehmkuhl, said that on the dismissed charge “the prescription was written and filled in Franklin County, not here.”
“On the charge that went to the jury, the prescription was written in Franklin County but filled here at Wal-Mart,” he said in explaining the difference between the two charges.
On the drug trafficking charges, Newland was accused of selling drugs to Mount Vernon Police confidential informant Jason Blubaugh. According to court records, on Aug. 1, 2007, Newland allegedly sold Blubaugh 17 pills for $600 that Blubaugh claimed were Morphine. The pills Blubaugh handed over to police did not test positive for any controlled substance, according to police records.
Lehmkuhl told the News the pills in question were actually Clozapine and Clindamycin, prescription drugs Lehmkuhl said were stolen by Blubaugh from Newland’s brother’s medicine cabinet. Clindamycin is an antibiotic and Clozapine is an anti-psychotic drug used for the treatment of mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
Mount Vernon police fitted Blubaugh with a wire transmitter at the time of the alleged buy, but, according to police records, the transmitter failed to record anything due to a defective microphone.
The second trafficking charge stems from an event on Aug. 10. Police records show that Mount Vernon police gave Blubaugh $500 to purchase crack cocaine from Newland. According to the report, Blubaugh told police he entered an apartment on West Chestnut Street and was taken into the bathroom, where he was given a large ball of crack cocaine and 10 pink and white pills he called downers. Lab reports show that neither the white powdery substance in the bag nor the pills tested positive for a controlled substance.
According to Lehmkuhl, the white powder was actually a chunk of drywall that Blubaugh pried from the bathroom wall, and Lehmkuhl said the pills were actually Benadryl capsules stolen by Blubaugh from the medicine cabinet. Lehmkuhl said that Mark Cline, a witness to the incident, said that when Blubaugh arrived at the apartment, he went into the bathroom alone. Cline then heard pounding and scraping coming from the room before Blubaugh exited the bathroom with white powder on his hands and pants. Cline also said he found foil packets from the Benadryl in the bathroom.
“Jason Blubaugh scammed the cops out of $1,100 of drug-buy money, which he pocketed, handing them stolen prescription and over-the-counter drugs, and a chunk of wall plaster he claimed was crack cocaine,” said Lehmkuhl.
Blubaugh, who was not called to the stand during the trial, was recently arrested in Fairfield County on misdemeanor charges of theft and falsification. He is also wanted in Delaware County on one count of possession of heroin. He remains incarcerated in the Fairfield County Jail on $10,000 bond.
Newland faces six to 12 months in prison and up to a $2,500 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for May 9.
Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher declined to comment on the case or why he dismissed the trafficking charges.