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| Lewis County Jury Delivers Guilty Verdict in Drug Sale Case 09/14/17 04:00pm Updated 09/14/17 04;45pm |
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Croghan woman accused of selling oxymorphone in the Town of New Bremen on June 08, 2016, after nearly four hours of deliberations. Jessica Gazzillo, represented by Public Defenders Gary Miles and Michael Young was tried in Lewis County Court this week, with the Honorable Daniel R. King presiding. Assistant District Attorney Mark Lemieux prosecuted the case for the District Attorney's Office. Ms. Gazzillo was charged with third-degree Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance, a class "B" felony and third-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, also a class "B" felony. Guilty verdicts were delivered on both counts. Sentencing was set for November 3rd. The prosecution's case relied heavily on testimony from a husband and wife duo that were confidential informants at the time . The informants, the jury heard, were contracted by the District Attorney's Office to perform a number of drug buys in return for significantly reduced charges on felony crimes they had been charged with. The jury heard testimony from the informants and law enforcement officers on the process taken during the arranged drug buy. The informants were subjected to a strip search, as well as a "bumper to bumper" search of their vehicle- taking about 15 minutes according to the testimony of the officer performing the search- before departing the Lowville Police Department on June 08, 2016, around 5 PM, en route to the Village of Croghan where a drug buy had been arranged at the Nice N Easy Shop there. They were followed by undercover law enforcement officers. They had been provided $50 in "buy money", and had a microphone wire. According to testimony from both of the informants and law enforcement officers, at some point after leaving, the buy location had been changed to the car wash, across from the ball field in Croghan. Law enforcement had been using the car wash location, about a half-mile from the Nice N Easy, as a staging area for undercover officers and had to quickly move out. The informants testified that Ms. Gazzillo approached the driver side of their Ford Mustang and provided them with the oxymorphone pills in exchange for the cash. They then departed the car wash location, followed by undercover officers, returning to the Lowville Police Department, where they were again stripped searched and a search was again performed on their vehicle. According to testimony from law enforcement officers, the audio recording malfunctioned and nothing was recorded. Now retired Senior NYSP Investigator John Pignone testified that the wire was placed on the body of the female informant, the driver of the Mustang. The female informant testified that the microphone "was placed in the driver's side door handle" of her vehicle. Although law enforcement had surveillance equipment available, due to the last minute location change no photos or videos were able to be captured of the alleged buy. During testimony the defense provided documentation of the informants having a large number of prescriptions for various oxycodone medications as well as other prescribed controlled substances. The jury also heard testimony from the informants admitting that both had tested positive for methamphetamine during the time they were still under their confidential informant contract, which had a clause prohibiting any drug use. Probation Officer Sara Bush testified she asked the District Attorney for consent to violate the informants based on the terms of their pre-trial release and was not given that consent. The defense called Ms. Gazzillo as a witness, where she testified that on the date in question she had gone to the store for cigarettes and milk and was "waved down" by the informants, where she said she followed them into the parking lot of the car wash. She said the male informant approached her vehicle, asked for a cigarette and they chatted for a few moments, at which point she returned home. An undercover trooper followed her to the residence, according to previous testimony, but she was never pulled over and the buy money was never recovered. She was ultimately arrested on January 10, 2017, but that information never made it into the court record and was not provided to the jury. With a lack of any concrete physical evidence available from the prosecution, the defense worked to question the credibility and motive of the two informants, while pointing out Ms. Gazzillo had no prior criminal record. The case hinged on whether or not the jury found the informant's testimony credible, as no law enforcement officers witnessed the transaction.
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