Calgary parents acquitted of manslaughter in infant's methadone death

Parents dodge manslaughter ruling in daughter's methadone death

Parents acquitted of manslaughter in tot's manslaughter death

They may have poor parenting skills, but the mother and father of a Calgary toddler who died of a methadone overdose aren’t killers, a judge ruled Friday.

Justice Earl Wilson said while Jonathan Hope and Lisa Guerin failed in their parental duties by not getting their daughter medical help, they did not know she would die.

If fact, Wilson said, Hope’s conduct once he found 16-month-old Summer Hope not breathing the next morning he acted as a loving father would.

“He panicked and he tried desperately and for hours to revive her and he failed,” the Court of Queen’s Bench judge said.

Wilson acquitted both Hope and Guerin of manslaughter and criminal negligence charges in the April 29, 2006, death of their little girl in their Southwood area home.

He did find both parents guilty of failing to provide the necessaries of life by not seeking medical intervention when the girl ingested a small, but deadly amount of methadone.

But Wilson said neither expected the tragic consequences of their parental inactions.

“Neither of these parents took any steps to obtain proper, or any, medical attention,” he said.

The judge ruled Summer took a sip from a coffee cup which contained methadone “backwash” from a dosage Hope took earlier in the day at a clinic.

Hope told police he drank the coffee to help wash down the taste of the drug and continued sipping it on his way home.

There was still liquid left in the cup when he arrived at the southwest basement suite he shared with Guerin and their two kids.

When he went to do some repairs on their car so Guerin could use it to drive to Rocky Mountain House for an exotic dancer job he placed the cup in their bedroom and closed the door.

Wilson accepted evidence from former cocaine addict Amanda MacDonald that when Hope returned he and Guerin argued about Summer drinking from the cup.

He said Hope failed in his parental duties by not doing anything to get the child medical care and Guerin was similarly negligent for not doing anything.

Before leaving, Guerin convinced Hope the child would be okay.

“Regardless of Guerin’s response, Hope was not incapable of doing something, anything, to get Summer to the hospital,” Wilson said.

Both parents remain in custody pending a sentencing date being set next Friday.

CALGARY- Summer Hope was too young to know that the drink she swallowed contained a fatal dose of methadone, but when she did, her parents should have done the responsible thing and taken the 16-month-old to the hospital.

But while Jonathan Hope and Lisa Guerin were irresponsible parents in not seeking medical attention, they are not guilty of manslaughter in the death of their little girl, a judge ruled Friday. Justice Earl Wilson also acquitted Hope and Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) of criminal negligence causing death, saying there was no evidence either parent was aware that drinking the opiate, often used to treat addiction, could kill the little girl.

"The prudent parent seeks medical attention. No real willingness to do that was shown by either parent," Wilson told court. Instead, Wilson convicted each parent of a lesser charge of failing to provide the necessities of life -- a ruling that drew an angry reaction from the godfather of the little girl.

Terrance Lynn said he was disturbed by the verdict, calling it "ludicrous" neither was convicted on the criminal negligence charge.

"She doesn't get to have a life," Terrance Lynn, a longtime friend of Guerin, said of his dead goddaughter.

"Jail time would be a necessity in this case," he said outside court Friday after the verdict was handed down.

During the trial, expert witnesses said the little girl would need only have consumed as little as a teaspoon of the drug for it to be fatal.

But the judge said he doubts many are aware of how lethal methadone can be to those who have never taken opiates.

Wilson outlined the actions Hope, the father, took after discovering his daughter was not breathing on the morning of April 30, 2006 -- performing CPR for hours to try to revive her -- and pointed to things Hope told police about his children.

He was, Wilson said, "a loving parent. His statements breathe his love for his children."

For Guerin, Wilson was not satisfied she had a "reckless disregard" for Summer's health and safety. However, responsible parents would have gone to the hospital, even if they were unaware the methadone could be fatal to their child, he said.

Although evidence indicated Hope had pleaded with his then wife to take him and Summer to the hospital, she decided to continue to Rocky Mountain House where she and a friend had work as exotic dancers for the weekend and Guerin had plans to meet a boyfriend.

Even after Guerin left, Wilson pointed out that Hope "could have walked or hitchhiked to Rockyview Hospital."

During the two-week trial, the court heard medical intervention likely would have saved the little girl's life.

Neither of the accused appeared to react to the verdict.

Outside of court, however, Hope's family said they were relieved to hear the decision. "We feel he got a fair verdict," his cousin Corrine Vooys said. "He loved those kids. He wanted the best for them."

In giving his reasons for the conviction, Wilson said he did not believe Guerin's evidence when she took the stand in her own defence and said she had no knowledge her daughter had consumed methadone.

Prosecutor Ken McCaffrey said the Crown will seek "significant jail time." The maximum sentence for the conviction is five years.

Guerin's lawyer, Adriano Iovinelli, said he was pleased Guerin was acquitted of manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. He will ask for her immediate release Friday when the lawyers and Wilson set a date for sentencing.

I completely agree with the acquittal of the two more serious charges. I don't believe these parents believed that their child would die and the father did try to revive her and perform CPR as soon as he discovered that she was not breathing. This shows his loving nature. Yes they should have taken her to the hospital and I agree with the conviction of failing to provide the necessities of life but they did not know she was going to die.

Small doses of methadone could have killed Calgary toddler

Traces of methadone can lead to coma, court hears at trial over Calgary toddler's death

Small dose of methadone could have killed girl

Methadone antidote could have saved toddler

A teaspoon of methadone would have been enough to kill a toddler who died with a "significant amount" of the drug in her bloodstream, the province's deputy chief toxicologist testified Monday.

But a dose of an opiate antidote available at city hospitals could have saved the girl's life, Dr. Peter Singer told the court on the sixth day of proceedings in the trial of the little girl's parents.

Jonathan Hope and Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) are charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessities of life for their daughter, 16-month-old Summer Hope.

When Summer died in April 2006, it was initially believed to be due to sudden infant death syndrome.

Singer ran tests on the little girl's blood, liver, bile and other fluids to try to determine a cause of death.

Results from the toxicology tests showed Summer had a lethal amount of methadone in her system.

Testing showed she had 0.42 milligrams per litre in her blood, Singer said, calling it a "significant amount."

"This would be typical of a non-tolerant adult death."

Methadone is a synthetic opiate used to treat those with addiction issues. People prescribed to take it acquire a tolerance, but even small amounts can be toxic to those who have never taken it or other opiates.

The amount that Summer had in her bloodstream would be lethal to an adult or a child, Singer told the court. However, there is an antidote for opiate overdoses, including methadone, that is available in hospitals' emergency departments, he said.

"It's used all the time for overdoses. It's been used for children who have overdosed," he said, noting it works within minutes.

Narcan can be administered successfully while the person is still awake. After the person has fallen into a coma there may be some brain damage, which would be irreversible, he said.

While Singer was unable to determine exactly how much methadone Summer ingested that led to those levels of the drug in her bloodstream, he said the minimum lethal dose would have been around five millilitres -- a teaspoon of liquid. (Methadone is typically mixed with fake orange juice, similar to Tang, to offset the bitter taste. One milligram of the drug is usually found in one millilitre of liquid.) An overdose of methadone causes symptoms such as sleepiness, muscle flaccidity and shallow breaths, followed by the person falling into a coma and dying.

Even after falling into a coma, the person may continue breathing and could appear to just be sleeping, Singer told the court.

In the morning proceedings, a doctor with the clinic that Hope used to attend testified that even residual traces of methadone can be enough to put a person into a coma within 30 minutes.

Dr. Ian Postnikoff, a doctor with the methadone program formerly known as First Street Clinic, said at the time of Summer's death, Jonathan Hope was receiving daily doses of 280 milligrams of methadone.

"That's a relatively high dose," he said.

Postnikoff also told the court that Hope had at one point qualified to take part in the "take-home carry" program, which allowed him to take a week's worth of methadone to consume at home instead of attending the pharmacy daily. He was given two weeks' worth of the drug for the Christmas holidays.

In January of 2006, Hope was moved back to a program that had him taking his dose at the clinic's pharmacy in front of a witness.

He was on the daily witness ingestion program in April 2006 when Summer died.

Residual traces of methadone can be enough to put a person into a coma within 30 minutes, court heard this morning in the case against two parents accused in the overdose death of their toddler daughter.

Testifying on the sixth day of the two-week trial, Dr. Ian Postnikoff said the danger with methadone is it is a long-lasting drug and if a dose is raised too quickly it can create toxic levels.

Methadone kills people by stopping their breathing, he said.

"The lethal dose for a child, to my knowledge, has not been determined," he said.

Postnikoff is a doctor with the methadone program formerly known as First Street Clinic. Jonathan Hope was participating in that clinic's methadone treatment program in April 2006 when his 16-month-old daughter, Summer Hope, died of an overdose of that drug.

He and his former wife Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) are charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessities of life in the death of their daughter.

At the time of Summer's death, Hope was receiving daily doses of 280 milligrams of methadone.

"That's a relatively high dose," Postnikoff said. "We don't have too many patients at that dose."

It would have taken only a small dose of methadone to cause the death of Calgary toddler Summer Hope, her parents’ manslaughter trial heard Monday.

Dr. Peter Singer, an expert in toxicology, testified it would have taken about a teaspoonful of the drug to take the life of the 16-month-old victim.

But Singer said because there were too many variables, such as absorption rate and an unknown time of death, it was impossible to say how much methadone Summer consumed.

Her father, Jonathan Hope, and mother Lisa Guerin, are on trial for the little girl’s April 29, 2006, death.

Both are accused of manslaughter as well as charges of criminal negligence and failing their parental duties.

Singer told Crown prosecutor Ken McCaffrey that based on literature in the area, he estimated the victim had consumed 5 ml to 10 ml of methadone.

But under cross-examination by defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli, he acknowledged he estimated in an earlier report the amount was “up to 5 ml.”

He also said a child wouldn’t immediately be effected by consuming methadone and Summer could have ingested the liquid at 4:30 p.m. and still been active at 10 p.m.

Even at midnight, when Hope reported seeing her breathing, the girl could have been unconscious, but still taking breaths.

Earlier, Dr. Ian Postnikoff, who worked at a methadone treatment clinic, said Hope had been taking daily doses at the facility to combat an opiate addiction.

He said Hope became addicted to pain medicine after being involved in a serious car accident and was on the program to combat his drug problem.