CHARGED WITH MURDER
Police: Drugs killed Emporium woman: seller charged

A Sinnemahoning woman has been charged with homicide and several other offenses after allegedly selling another woman drugs that caused her death.

Cameron County District Attorney Paul Malizia and Emporium Borough Police Chief Rufus Jones made the announcement Thursday in a press conference in the DA's Fourth Street office.

Shawna Coffman, 28, and her husband Jesse Coffman, 32, were arrested and taken into custody Tuesday. They are being held in Tioga County Jail in lieu of $100,000 cash bail, each.

Shawna Coffman has been charged with second degree murder and drug delivery resulting in death, both felonies, as well as possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance (also a felony) and theft (a misdemeanor).

Jesse Coffman, meanwhile, has been charged with criminal conspiracy to commit drug delivery resulting in death, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A preliminary hearing has not been set.

According to Malizia, the pair delivered oxycodone and cocaine to Melissa Marshall at her residence on West Second St. in Emporium on or before Jan. 1. Marshall, who was 39, died that day of a heart attack, caused by ingesting the drugs, according to Erie County Forensic Pathologist Dr. Eric Vey, who performed the autopsy on Marshall's body.

Although Vey concluded the amount of narcotics in Marshall's bloodstream would not have been lethal to a healthy person her age, Marshall suffered from a heart disorder that was also discovered during the autopsy.

"That has no legal bearing (on the case)," Malizia said of the medical finding. "The fact is she died as a result (of ingesting the narcotics), no matter what her preexisting condition might have been."

Acting on a tip he got some 30 days after Marshall's death, Chief Jones pushed for the results of the routine autopsy.

"Through the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the two suspects were directly involved in the delivery of controlled substances to the victim," Jones said. "And based on statements made by multiple witnesses and the medical findings of Dr. Vey (we believe it was homicide)."

Under Pennsylvania statute, second degree murder can be charged anytime a homicide occurs "during the commission of a felony."

Malizia said Shawna Coffman was charged with theft because police have evidence that she was stealing things from the victim's home "while (the victim) was ingesting the drugs."

Second degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The drug delivery resulting in death charge falls under Pennsylvania's "minimum mandatory" sentencing law. If convicted, Shawna Coffman must spend a minimum of five years in jail and pay a minimum fine of $15,000.

Shawna Coffman pleaded guilty to simple assault and possession of a small amount of marijuana Feb. 19 and was sentenced to probation.