The Vineyard Gazette – Martha’s Vineyard News

A tentative trial date of Oct. 9 has been set for Jason R. Willoughby, 34, of Vineyard Haven, who was indicted by a Dukes County grand jury last October on felony charges in a case that involves a fatal overdose from the powerful drug fentanyl.

On Oct. 18, 2018, Mr. Willoughby was charged with manslaughter, distribution of a class B drug (fentanyl) and conspiracy to violate drug law.

The case dates to February 2018, when according to a police report a woman was found dead in her Vineyard Haven home from an apparent drug overdose.

According to the police report, Leo Willoughby, a relative of the defendant, told police he picked up the defendant from the Patriot ferry in Oak Bluffs on the evening of Feb. 5, 2018. The relative said the defendant had allegedly procured 20 grams of fentanyl off-Island, and then sold the woman the fentanyl that led to her death.

Leo Willoughby also told police he had used a small amount of fentanyl with the woman and it nearly killed him. When he woke up, he found her unconscious and not breathing and called police, according to the police report.

In superior court on Wednesday, with the defendant and Leo Willoughby present, the Hon. Robert C. Rufo, an associate justice of the superior court, heard arguments on a motion by defense attorney Robert Moriarty to suppress evidence in the case. Judge Rufo took the matter under advisement and said he would make a decision within a week. Judge Rufo allowed a motion from the defense to produce the past two years of pharmacy records for Leo Willoughby.

Cape and Islands assistant district attorney Jessica Croker is prosecuting the case.

Fentanyl is a potent form of synthetic heroin that is about 50 to 100 times as powerful as morphine, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Massachusetts had the fourth highest rate of opioid overdoses in 2017, behind West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Maine.