Sandusky woman convicted for veteran's OD death

SANDUSKY — A Sandusky woman was sentenced to prison for injecting a Perkins Township man with a fatal dose of cocaine.Candace Wilson, 29, 100 block Division St., is now serving her time at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.She accepted a plea deal in late July before Erie County Common Pleas Judge Roger Binette, and was sentenced to prison immediately thereafter.Her conviction stems from the April 10 overdose death of David Harris, 45, of the Ohio Veteran's Home. Sandusky police Detective John Powell said Wilson not only supplied the drugs that killed Harris — she also injected him multiple times that day."She admitted shooting him up five times with what she thought was heroin — but it ended up being cocaine," Powell said.At one point during her interview with police, Wilson told investigators she "should've known" what the substance was, Powell said.What was particularly unusual about Harris's death was the sheer amount of cocaine found in his system during an autopsy, police said."The coroner's report showed there was a very high amount of cocaine in his system — very unusual," Powell said.The report stated a "therapeutic amount" of cocaine in the system is defined as up to 0.30 (milligrams per liter), and a "lethal amount" of cocaine is defined as 0.90.Harris, meanwhile, was found to have 12.0 mg/L in his system.Powell said he died within minutes.When Wilson dropped Harris off at Firelands Regional Medical Center around 2 a.m. that day, she claimed she saw him being dragged across the road by two unidentified men, and then intervened by taking him to the hospital.Through their investigation, however, officials learned Wilson and Harris were together at a home in the 500 block of Tiffin Ave. when Wilson shot Harris up.In early June, Wilson was indicted for Harris' death and charged with involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs and four counts related to heroin trafficking and possession.Assistant Erie County prosecutor Pamela Gross prosecuted the case, while attorney Jeff Whitacre served as defense counsel.Wilson accepted a deal on July 29 at the Erie County Court of Common Pleas. In exchange for prosecutors tossing out her other charges, Wilson agreed to plead guilty to corrupting another with drugs, two counts of heroin trafficking and one count of complicity to heroin trafficking.She was ultimately sentenced to four years and nine months behind bars — Wilson received two years for the second-degree felony corruption charge, and 11 months apiece on her other counts.Powell said Harris's relatives signed off on the plea deal, and court documents said officials will defer to his family again as to the possibility of early release.