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WILKES-BARRE — A trial date has been tentatively scheduled for one of the first people in Luzerne County to be charged with drug delivery resulting in death.
Eric Scott Malia, 32, of Wilkes-Barre, was arraigned Thursday by Luzerne County Judge Michael Vough, with his trial being set for sometime in January.
Malia was charged, along with the late Joan Rosengrant, with delivering heroin laced with fentanyl to 32-year-old Michael Gumaer, which led to Gumaer’s overdose death in January 2017.
Authorities have said fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine.
Malia entered a plea of not guilty Thursday.
In April, Malia and Rosengrant were the first two people in county history to be arrested on the count of drug delivery resulting in death.
Their landmark arrests came after a state law removed the requirement to prove that alleged dealers had malicious intent in order to charge them with a death.
Co-defendant Rosengrant, 47, of Monroe Street, Wilkes-Barre, later died in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility on July 7. Her death was ruled as accidental, having been caused by the combined effect of prescription drugs and a physical condition.
Malia, of River Street, was remanded to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility to await his trial date.