Girard man's trial starts on charges he dealt fentanyl that led to woman's death

Erika Mininger was on her knees and face-down in the living room of her Girard apartment when her roommate said he videotaped her on the early morning of Dec. 16, 2021.

The roommate, Joshua Cullison, said he did so to prove to Mininger that she snores.

Mininger was silent, and cold to the touch, when Cullison said he checked on her later that morning.

Mininger, 32, died of a combination drug toxicity primarily involving fentanyl, according to the Erie County Coroner's Office.

Trial opened on Tuesday for the man police and prosecutors accuse of supplying the drugs suspected of killing her.

Anthony J. Long, 26, of Girard, is facing felony counts of drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver and criminal use of a communication facility, and misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, in Mininger's death. Girard police accuse him of supplying drugs to Mininger and Cullison after both had contacted him, according to testimony at the start of the trial on Tuesday.

The investigation into Mininger's death took time, and it went cold for a time, Assistant District Attorney Tayler Moses told the jury during her opening statement before Erie County Judge Daniel Brabender. It wasn't until authorities processed Mininger's cell phone that they were able to gather information showing that Long delivered the drugs, she said.

Moses, in her remarks to the jury, questioned who takes advantage of someone suffering from a drug addiction for nothing but a profit, and who gambles away a person's life.

"I ask you to tell the defendant what he already knows: that he is guilty of all charges," she said.

Long's court-appointed lawyer, Keith Clelland, asked the jury to consider the believability and credibility of all the testimony they will hear during the trial. He centered much of his remarks on Cullison, questioning Cullison's decision to videotape Mininger on the living room floor rather than offering her aid; the several lies he initially told police during the investigation and his decision to hide Mininger's cell phone after he found her dead; and the immunity deal he signed with police and prosecutors while facing a tampering with evidence charge related to the hiding of the phone.

Clelland also told the jury that they will learn that Mininger left the apartment for 45 minutes before she returned and allegedly obtained drugs from Long, and that another man had come to the department and was visiting with Mininger that night.

What police and a roommate found

Girard Police Department Patrolman Ryan Zuern, who filed the charges against Long in March 2023, testified Tuesday morning that he was called to an apartment in the 100 block of West Main Street in Girard on the afternoon of Dec. 16, 2021, where he found Mininger face-down. When a representative of the Coroner's Office rolled her over, they found a red straw underneath her that later tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl, Zuern said.

When Cullison was later interviewed, he admitted to hiding Mininger's phone in the apartment because he said he was freaking out and didn't know why he did it, Zuern testified. Cullison gave police permission to search his own phone, he said.

An examination of the phones found messages about purchasing narcotics from Long, according to Zuern's testimony. Police also obtained a search warrant for Long's phone and sent it for analysis, and after that investigators went back to Cullison and he started telling police the whole story, Zuern said.

Cullison testified that he had contacted Long through Facebook Messenger seeking drugs, and that Mininger was also seeking drugs. Cullison said he was in his room when Long arrived, and he handed Long $100 for a gram. He said he stayed in his room getting high while Mininger stayed in the apartment's living room getting high on the drugs she obtained.

Cullison said Mininger invited another man to come over to the apartment. He said he later heard Mininger snoring and found her on the floor, and he said he told the other man that it was time to go and the other man left. Cullison said he tried to wake Mininger up and poked her in the side, then took a video of her on the floor snoring because he said Mininger doesn't believe she snores and he wanted to show her.

Prosecutors played the short video in court Tuesday morning.

Clelland, in his cross-examination, asked Cullison if he knew where Mininger went when Cullison told police Mininger left the apartment for 45 minutes some time before Long came to the apartment. Cullison said she went to an apartment complex, and when Clelland asked him if Mininger went to buy drugs, Cullison replied that is what Mininger said.

Long is one of a number of people charged in recent years by law enforcement in Erie County with supplying drugs that have caused another person's overdose death. Drug-related deaths have spiked in the county over the past decade, with a record 124 deaths attributed to drugs in 2017 and at least 114 fatal overdoses recorded last year, according to data from the Erie County Coroner's Office.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Girard man facing trial for selling drugs in woman's death