By Peter E. Bortner
Republican & Herald
NEW PHILADELPHIA — Matthew Koncsler died in March 2013 from an accidental drug overdose in Schuylkill County Prison, but official neglect contributed to it, a coroner’s jury ruled Monday after an all-day session.
“There was neglect. We’re not pointing the finger at anyone in particular,” juror Gary Klemovage, Frackville, said after the six-member jury deliberated about 45 minutes before deciding how Koncsler, 21, of Shenandoah, died on March 31, 2013.
District Attorney Christine A. Holman, who questioned the witnesses during the hearing, declined to say whether she would file criminal charges against anyone, but did say she will use the findings to push for changes at the prison.
“I think justice was served today. The six jurors hit the nail on the head,” Holman said. “There are some necessary changes that will have to be implemented.”
Holman did say the jury’s findings could be used by Pottsville police to move forward with the probe.
Sherry Koncsler, Shenandoah, Matthew’s mother, drew little consolation from the decision, although she was glad for some sort of resolution.
“My son’s up there (in Heaven),” she said.
Corrections officers found Matthew Koncsler dead in Cell D-13 about 7:30 a.m. March 31, 2013.
“It looked like he was sleeping. He was as hard as a rock, ice cold,” corrections officer Robert L. Murton testified about what he found in the cell. “He was clearly dead at that point.”
Matthew Koncsler had pleaded guilty March 20, 2013, to delivery of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, with prosecutors withdrawing a charge of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. At that time, President Judge William E. Baldwin sentenced him to serve three to 18 months in prison, pay costs, $100 to the Substance Abuse Education Fund and $113 restitution to the state police crime laboratory in Bethlehem, and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.
He reported to prison on March 27, 2013, to begin serving his sentence.
Schuylkill County detectives had charged him with delivering drugs and selling paraphernalia on Jan. 21, 2012.
Holman and Coroner Dr. David J. Moylan III had said they wanted the jury to help resolve unanswered questions about the death. The inquest was the first in Schuylkill County since the 1990s.
Sherry Koncsler wept on the witness stand as she recalled her son as more than a drug addict.
“I still can’t believe my son is gone. I think of my son every single day,” she testified.
She said she knew her son took drugs, but was “shocked” when Moylan told her that heroin was found in his system.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Rameen Starling-Roney testified Matthew Koncsler died of mixed substance toxicity, with multiple substances put into his body and interacting.
“We are certain that there was heroin in Mr. Koncsler’s system?” Holman asked Starling-Roney.
“Yes,” he answered. “I cannot say anything about the time frame in which heroin was used.”
However, forensic toxicologist Wendy R. Adams did, testifying the heroin entered Koncsler’s body within an hour of his death.
Adams said heroin breaks down quickly when it enters the body, but the heroin in Koncsler’s body had not completely broken down when samples were taken and analyzed.
“It would break down within an hour. It’s not very stable,” she said.
Shannon McShaw, the certified medical assistant who filled out Koncsler’s medical intake form when he entered the prison, testified that he admitted abusing heroin, the depressant Xanax and the painkiller Percocet, but no prescriptions, and was starting to experience withdrawal symptoms.
One of Koncsler’s cellmates, James Landron Jr., Reading, testified he told him he was an addict. He said people - he could not identify who - brought Koncsler cigarettes and stuffed them through the 1-inch gap under the cell door.
“I didn’t see any drugs. I did see him crushing pills. I saw him crush pills,” said Landron, to whom Holman had read his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before his testimony.
Landron said Koncsler complained about a headache the night before he died. About 2 a.m., the third man in the cell, Jonathan Delgado, said Koncsler’s hand was purple and he was no longer snoring, Landron said.
Delgado had been subpoenaed to testify but did not appear, Holman said.
Other witnesses who did testify included:
- Vincent Eroh, Shenandoah, Matthew Koncsler’s stepbrother, who said he knew nothing of his heroin use.
- Amber Lynn Ginther, Ashland, a corrections officer who testified about how inmates are processed.
- Tara Hamm, South Tamaqua, a licensed practical nurse who was health services administrator, who determined what medicines Koncsler should take to help him with his withdrawal.
- Grant Yoder, a Pottsville police officer who helped investigate the case.
- Steven B. Guers, a Pottsville police detective who led the police investigation. Guers said Delgado told him he saw Koncsler with pills that did not match what had been prescribed for his detoxification.
- Dr. Carolann Littzi, who criticized the prison practice of not having a doctor examine prisoners before medicines are prescribed for them.
- Travis K. Harris, a Berks County Jail inmate who was in a cell next to Koncsler in March 2013 and said it was easy to pass items under the cell doors.
- Moylan, who said a virtual autopsy showed Koncsler had no signs of hanging, strangulation or an aneurysm.
- Joseph Pothering, a deputy coroner who said he examined Koncsler’s body in his cell and saw no signs of trauma, wounds or powdery substances. He also said prison officials told him the surveillance tapes from March 28 to 29, 2013, were gone.
One of the tapes from March 30, 2013, appeared to show some sort of exchange in the medical room, although it could not be determined what was exchanged.
Jurors saw that as one of the signs of neglect.
“If cigarettes were allowed and bags could be passed, you could get away with anything,” Donald Klinger, Lavelle, said. “The cameras showed so much.”
Moylan said after the hearing ended that he wants to make sure such a death never occurs again in the county. He said there might be another coroner’s jury this summer for a case he declined to identify.
He said possible changes could include doctors examining incoming prisoners, X-raying them or providing dry cells, which would have no running water, for inmates suspected of having drugs.
“We’re from Schuylkill County. We’re going to strive to do it better,” he said. “Let’s be a little bit better than the rest of the world. The prison board’s going to have to call the shots. We’ll review the medical literature.”