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Drug case may lead to murder charge
By LEANORA MINAI © St. Petersburg Times, published May 25, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- Mark Durgerian had been taking OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller, for several weeks when an upset friend asked for a hit. Durgerian offered Roy Bass two 20-milligram pills. "No," Bass said, according to Durgerian. "You know my tolerance. Give me four." Durgerian obliged. Now St. Petersburg police are considering whether to charge 44-year-old Durgerian with murder. After drinking beer, smoking pot and swallowing the OxyContin tablets, Bass, 40, passed out Tuesday night. He was found dead in his bed Wednesday morning. Toxicology tests by the medical examiner are pending. If the medical examiner determines that the painkiller that Durgerian provided caused Bass' death, the case will go to the state attorney's office, said St. Petersburg homicide Sgt. Mike Puetz. "There are provisions within the law to charge this person with some element of homicide," said Puetz, who added that Durgerian has cooperated with police. Cancer patients and others with chronic pain take OxyContin, a brand name for oxycodone, for relief. But it has become a popular street drug. State law says that anyone who unlawfully distributes a controlled substance, which causes the user's death, can be charged with first-degree murder, a capital felony. But authorities say it is often difficult to win convictions. In Brooksville in Hernando County, a teenager faces manslaughter for his alleged role in supplying a 13-year-old girl with a fatal dose of oxycodone. And in another St. Petersburg case, detectives are trying to determine who gave 16-year-old Kimberly Rodriquez her fatal dose in April. Durgerian and Bass met six years ago at a substance abuse meeting. Durgerian said Thursday that he did not intend for Bass to die. Durgerian started taking pain relievers after he broke his right leg two years ago. When the injury did not heal, he said, he went to see a doctor for chronic pain. A few weeks ago he switched from Percodan to OxyContin, which is longer lasting. On Tuesday night, Bass was staying at Durgerian's apartment at 1010 Crescent Lake Drive N. Bass had been arrested and charged with possession of crack cocaine, and was kicked out of his own apartment. Police said Bass told Durgerian he was in pain and asked for OxyContin. The next morning, Durgerian and his girlfriend found Bass in bed with his face buried in pillows. Durgerian said he hopes the medical examiner concludes that Bass died as a result of suffocating in the pillows, not an overdose. "If he dies of an overdose, then I might be in trouble, and that's nothing I'm not looking forward to," Durgerian said. Police confiscated Durgerian's OxyContin medication. "So now I have to suffer with Percodan," Durgerian said.
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