Accompanied by a bodyguard, attorney Keenan Holmes told reporters outside the Lawrence County courthouse that New Castle authorities are railroading his client, Joshua Stewart.

“I don’t feel safe in New Castle because if they can do this to Josh, they can do it to anybody,” he said. “But this thing now is bigger than Josh. I’m going to call it the way I see it and fight with my client to the end.”

DETERMINED—Attorney Keenan Holmes, who quit one law firm to defend Stewart against a wrongful death lawsuit, tells reporters in New Castle he will continue to do so, even hiring a bodyguard to escort him while at court.

Reacting to Holmes’ “railroading” statements, Police Chief Thomas Sansone told the New Castle News Holmes was “sensationalizing” and “should do more real legal work and not watch legal shows on TV.”

Holmes suggested Sansone watch less of “The Sopranos.”

RESOLUTE—Joshua Stewart, flanked by his stepfather Alton Henry and mother, Charmagne, said the family is shaken but confident the wrongful death suit filed against them will be dropped.

Holmes was in New Castle Aug. 4 fighting to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against Stewart and his family brought by the mother of Erica Jo Million, a 16-year-old New Castle High School sophomore who ingested oxycodone in school Feb. 27, 2007. She died five days later at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.

In arguments before Judge J. Craig Cox, Holmes repeated the points laid out in his May 12 motion to dismiss the case, namely that even if his client had supplied the drugs Million ingested—which he and Stewart vehemently deny—her taking the drugs, a criminal act, was the approximate cause of death.

“As unfortunate as this was, it was her action that killed her,” Holmes said. “You go to court when you’ve been wronged, not when you wrong yourself. There is no evidence he misled her about what the drugs were, or that he said they were safe—because there is no evidence he gave them to her at all.”

After more than a year’s investigation, which showed only that Stewart had access to his stepfather’s pain pills—pills different from those Million took—a March 27 juvenile hearing ultimately resulted in Stewart’s conviction for possession.

Despite District Attorney John Bongivego's threatened charges of third degree murder—as an adult, then almost a year later, manslaughter—as a juvenile, following the conviction, he told a New Castle News reporter, “At this point there is no evidence that can link anybody up with her (Million's) death.”

“Everyone seems to forget that,” Holmes said. “The easy thing to do is to also forget she was a known drug addict and that her Myspace page is filled with comments about drugs.”

“Everyone seems to forget that,” Holmes said. “The easy thing to do is to also forget she was a known drug addict and that her Myspace page is filled with comments about drugs.”

Stewart said he doesn’t understand how the case can go forward.

“They said I didn’t give her the drugs, but the family is still suing,” he said. “That, to me, is somewhat absurd.”

Judge Cox has taken the arguments under advisement, but has not indicated when he will rule on Holmes’ motion to dismiss the case. None of Million’s family members attended the hearing.

“If this goes to trial, a lot of eyebrows will be raised and a lot of people exposed,” said Holmes. “We’ve connected more dots than they think we have. Whatever they do—they can’t win.”

(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)