FARMINGTON – A father and son from Wilton pleaded guilty Friday to unlawfully trafficking morphine at a birthday party in November where the father’s girlfriend fatally overdosed.

Roy Gordon, 42, and Seth Gordon, 23, face as much as two years in prison each as part of the plea agreement approved by Justice Michaela Murphy in Franklin County Superior Court.

Of the three other people charged in the case, one is scheduled for trial and two have pleaded guilty.

Roy Gordon’s attorney, Woody Hanstein, said Gordon was not admitting guilt in causing the death of his girlfriend, Marilyn Rider, 52, who died of a morphine overdose at her home Nov. 11.

Gordon was originally charged with aggravated trafficking of drugs that caused the death of another person, punishable by as much as 30 years in prison.

The Gordons, who are free on bail, are scheduled for sentencing Nov. 1.

Hanstein told Murphy that Roy Gordon was tested by a doctor on his intelligence and tested in the bottom percentile. He said he still felt that he and the assistant district attorneys had reached a fair deal for his client, taking Gordon’s low intelligence into consideration.

Murphy said the documents from the intelligence tests would be considered at the sentencing hearing.

The Gordons are two of five people charged in connection with Rider’s overdose death.

Eric Barnes, 27, of Industry has not reached a plea agreement with the state and his request to proceed to a jury-waived trial was approved by Murphy on Friday.

Murphy said that if Barnes is found guilty, he will be sentenced at the same time as the Gordons.

Seth Gordon told investigators that Barnes was at the birthday party and gave Rider one of two injections of morphine that night.

Scott Kidder, 32, was sentenced in March to pay a $400 fine and serve two years on probation after he finishes serving two years in prison for a probation violation from a prior conviction.

Kidder helped provide the morphine that Rider took at Roy Gordon’s birthday party.

Terry Oliver, 53, accepted the same plea deal as the Gordons in May and will be sentenced with them. Oliver sold the morphine, originally in pill form, to the party-goers, according to court documents.

Rider’s neighbors reported hearing Roy Gordon yelling for Rider to wake up early that morning, according to court documents.

Gordon called his parents’ house and asked them to come over. His mother called 911 after she arrived at the apartment. Barnes, Roy Gordon, Gordon’s mother and Rider’s 11-year old son were all at the house when police and an ambulance arrived, according to an affidavit.

According to the affidavit, Barnes and Roy Gordon put several needles in a box and removed them before emergency responders came to the apartment.

Court documents say Seth Gordon told investigators that he was at the party and gave Rider her first injection of morphine.

Seth Gordon told investigators that Rider became increasingly affected by the drug throughout the night and Rider’s son became upset because she was unable to stand up or speak coherently.

 

Kaitlin Schroeder can be contacted at 861-9252 or at:

kschroeder@mainetoday.com