By Jessica Kenley

For nearly twelve years, April Bliss has sorted through boxes of court records, expert reports, letters from prison, and handwritten notes from attorneys to try to make some sense of her son’s case. She has written to the Governor of Pennsylvania, Attorney general Dave Sunday, and many State Representatives and Senators, including SR Owlett, who forwarded this letter to Martin Causer:

The following are some excerpts: 

“Dear Representative Owlett, 

I am the Mother of the land[mark] case Commonwealth v[.] PROCTOR, [and] Jonathan Proctor is my son. 

In regards to this new DDRD [Drug Delivery Resulting in Death] 2279, let me fill you in a bit, from a SEVERE[LY] FAULTY SYSTEM.

SEPTEMBER 30th, 2015, after a 3 day trial in Coudersport, Pa, Jonathan was found GUILTY of DDRD for Daniel Lowe[‘s] death that occurred October 26th, 2012.

Now let me tell you from the beginning, how our COURT SYSTEM failed a FAIR HEARING.

My son [was] plastered all over [the] front pages [of] newspapers, radio stations.. [and] [l]ive news with my son’s picture…calling my son the drug dealer.

My son set up the buy for the heroin. 

My son went with Daniel L. and Dakota Woodard to the dealer’s house, Brian Pierce. Brian Pierce took the stand and stated that he himself was the dealer for this area[,] and that he had only four or five people that he would actually sell to. Brian Pierce was on that stand, [and] was asked if he ever[had] known Daniel Lowe to mix drugs. 

Pier[ce] replied yes. 

Daniel was known to mix benzos with heroin, and that he himself, Brian Pierce, told Daniel Lowe that it was a very dangerous thing to do and that he should not do it.

The Potter County Coroner stated on a death certificate accidental overdose from combined drugs (Italics and boldface added for emphasis).

Dr. William L. Manion[‘s credentials are:] M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Pathology, Memorial Hospital of Salem County. Designated Forensic Pathologist, Medical Examiner, Burlington and Ocean Counties, President and CEO of Diagnostic Pathology Consultants.

Dr. Manion stated that the case, [D]r. Coyer indicated that the therapeutic concentration range of morphine. Dr. Coyer notes that codeine may be found as a contaminant of an illicit street drug, heroin[, and] morphine[,] with many other drugs in the victim’s system.

Dr. Manion disagreed (emphasis added) with Dr. Coyer’s explanation that the level of free morphine was sufficient in and by itself enough to cause a fatal respiratory depression. 

Dr. Manion stated that the amount of heroin in Daniel Lowe’s system was not enough (emph. added) to cause death. 

However, the amount of benzodiazepine[s], ([or] Valium), was clearly enough, without the heroin, to possibly cause death. Dr. Manion agreed that due to the mixed drug combination, [and] that is what ended Daniel Lowe’s life. 

Dr. Manion stated, “The fact that free morphine is in combination with diazepam (or Valium) led to the drug interaction, which caused Mr. Lowe[‘s death].

Dr. Manion also stated that he agreed with the death certificate that the cause of death is combined drug toxicity, which is the effect of both morphine and [D]iazepam (emph. added), as noted by the Potter County coroner. 

“Had he not been taking the Valium, he would not have died from the free morphine level, that is in my professional opinion,” Dr. Manion stated, [and went on to say that,] “The death certificate describes the death as being caused by lethal intake of drugs…”

Dr. Manion also states that if Dr. Coyer, who is not a forensic pathologist (emph. added), is saying that Mr. Lowe died at the hands of his friends, Ms. Woodard and Mr. Proctor, then Dr. Coyer would classify the manner of death as a homicide. 

Dr. Coyer is neither a medical examiner nor a coroner (emph. added)…

A few things that I would like to add that happened in this trial, and these remarks are made only by me, April, Jonathan Proctor’s [M]om:

The drugs were obtained in Tioga County. 

The overdose started prior to reaching Potter County. 

The 911 call was made in Gal[e]ton, yes. 

However, the Gal[e]ton PD allowed Ms. Woodard, along with three other friends, to take the car to Charles Cole Memorial Hospital, where it was then impounded. 

It should have been [searched and] impounded or not allowed to even leave the scene[,] where the 911 call was made [for investigative purposes.]

Officer Brackman from the Gal[e]ton Police Department then took the stand. He was asked if he investigated where the Valium came from. Mr. Brackman stated he did not feel it was relevant [emph. added]…

Jared Smith, who was the attorney representing Jonathan Proctor, fell asleep [emph. added] many times during a three-day trial while the judge…should have, in my opinion, called for a mistrial. 

Where were John’s rights in all of this?

The dealer, as I stated, was Brian Pierce, who[,] on the stand[,] stated that he was the dealer for this area. 

The dealer was not my son. [emph. added] 

Two days after the trial was over, the bail that Mr. Pierce had was dropped. 

A short while later, all of the felonies that Brian Pierce had[–]which he was waiting to go to court on[–]were dropped to misdemeanors [emph. added] in exchange for his testifying on the stand. 

Also, I would like to state a few more facts, if I may:

The jury selection was made, of course, in the county seat [of Potter County], in Coudersport, PA. For two years [emph. added], my son’s picture[,] and the story[,] and the titles that he, the dealer, was being charged[, and] were plastered on every newspaper 200 and some miles away, [even appearing on] news stations [in] Elmira[, New York]. 

How do you pick twelve people in Potter County that did not know or hear about Jonathan Proctor, who was not the dealer [emph. added]? 

This trial sentenced my son to 12 to 24 years in prison. He has now been in prison for almost 11 years. He is in [SCI] Benner State Prison [in Pennsylvania]…

Yes, my son had a heroin addiction[,] that many of his friends also had at that time. 

They were all friends. 

They all hung out together. 

We live in a very sad world today. 

I am not saying my son should not have gotten any time for any of this. 

I am just stating the unfair acts of the court system, the incredible amount of time that was given to my son[,] while the dealer walked.

Kind regards, 

April”

Each document tells part of the story she believes much of Potter County has never heard.

Her son, Jonathan Proctor, is serving a sentence of 12 to 24 years in State Prison after becoming the first person prosecuted in Potter County–and the State of Pennsylvania–under Pennsylvania’s Drug Delivery Resulting in Death statute. 

While Proctor has never denied using heroin that was later used by his friend, Daniel Lowe, April argues that her son’s prosecution—and ultimately his sentence—was built on disputed medical evidence, questions surrounding jurisdiction, and what she believes was a determination by prosecutors to make an example out of him.

The following is a copy of the Official Affidavit of Probable Cause: 

“This destroyed two families,” Bliss said during a recent interview with Monarch Media. 

“Daniel lost his life, and my son lost his.”

Writing from prison, Proctor said he has never forgotten the events that changed both families forever.

“I am not the monster that the DA tried to make me out to be,” he wrote. “My life has been taken away from me.”

According to many pages of documents provided to Monarch Media by Bliss, Proctor and Lowe traveled to obtain heroin before returning toward Potter County in October 2012. Lowe later suffered what was ultimately ruled an accidental overdose.

Where the case becomes complicated—and where Bliss says justice failed—is over what actually caused Lowe’s death.

An independent forensic review prepared by Dr. William L. Manion, a board-certified forensic pathologist, concluded that Lowe died from the combined effects of morphine and diazepam acting together to suppress respiration. According to the report, the drugs worked synergistically, and Dr. Manion stated that he held this opinion “to a reasonable degree of medical and forensic certainty.”

The following is a summary of Dr. Manion’s credentials, which are a matter of public record, and may be obtained online at any time by anyone:

The following is a copy of Dr. Manion’s findings in the Jon Proctor case:

Bliss argues that finding fundamentally changes the legal question.

“If it wasn’t just the heroin,” she said, “then how can my son be responsible for causing Daniel’s death?”

According to Bliss, another medical professional retained nearly two years later by the prosecution later testified that heroin alone caused the fatal overdose. 

That testimony ultimately became a key part of the Commonwealth’s case against Proctor.

Proctor says that disagreement over the medical evidence has remained central to every appeal he has pursued.

“The medical evidence absolutely does not support my conviction,” he wrote while describing what he believes were shortcomings in his legal representation and the handling of expert testimony during the appeals process.

The family also continues to question why the prosecution was handled in Potter County.

Bliss maintains that the heroin transaction occurred outside Potter County, in neighboring McKean County, and that Lowe’s medical emergency also began outside the county. She believes the case should have been prosecuted elsewhere and says her attorneys unsuccessfully challenged jurisdiction before trial.

Court records show Proctor was convicted and later sentenced by then-President Judge Stephen Minor.

Bliss also believes the sentence itself was unusually severe.

“They wanted someone to be the first,” she said. “Jon was the first one charged, and they wanted to make an example out of him.”

Over the last decade, Bliss says she has watched her son miss nearly every milestone of adult life. 

While incarcerated, Proctor lost his father to pancreatic cancer, lost all four grandparents and, according to Bliss, initially lost his parental rights before later reconnecting with his children.

In his own writings, Proctor reflects less on the legal arguments than on the years he believes cannot be replaced.

“My life has been taken away from me,” he wrote. “This was wrong.”

Despite those losses, Bliss has continued gathering records, consulting attorneys, and seeking additional legal review of the case.

“I won’t stop,” she said. “He’s still my son.”

Monarch Media has independently reviewed portions of the documentation provided by Bliss, including medical opinions, sentencing records, prison correspondence, and handwritten statements from Proctor describing his experiences and the basis for his continuing appeals. Additional court records and legal filings are still being reviewed.

Here is a copy of the Official Certificate of Death for Daniel Lowe:

Although he continues pursuing the legal remedies available to him, Proctor says he hopes readers will ultimately evaluate the evidence for themselves rather than the headlines that surrounded his conviction more than a decade ago.

“I am not the monster that the DA tried to make me out to be,” he wrote.

This article is the first in an investigative series examining the Proctor case, the use of Pennsylvania’s Drug Delivery Resulting in Death statute in Potter County, and broader questions raised by defendants, attorneys, and families regarding criminal prosecutions during the tenure of Potter County District Attorney Andy Watson.

Mr. Watson did not respond to several inquiries for a comment.

Future installments will examine:

• the conflicting medical testimony presented at trial;
• questions surrounding jurisdiction;
• the prosecution’s use of witnesses and expert testimony;
• sentencing decisions; and
• responses from prosecutors, defense attorneys, and others connected with the case.

Monarch Media has not reached conclusions regarding allegations of misconduct. As this series continues, those who are named or discussed will be offered the opportunity to respond to the claims made against them.