CALGARY — As a pathologist detailed the tragic last hours of a Calgary toddler’s life, the girl’s mother sat in court Tuesday weeping.
But Lisa Guerin’s tears were not shed from the courtroom gallery, but from the prisoner’s box, where she stands accused of causing the child’s death.
Dr. Craig Litwin testified it would have taken some time before the “profound sedating effects” of a methadone overdose would have shut down Summer Hope’s body.
Litwin said the 16-month-old ingested enough Methadone to kill an adult, but still could have been saved with medical intervention.
He told Crown prosecutor Ken McCaffrey the girl would have fallen into a deep unconsciousness “to the point where normal breathing is interrupted. “It causes damage to the internal organs because they’re not being properly oxygenated,” the medical examiner said.
Guerin, along with her ex-husband, Jonathan Hope, are charged with manslaughter in connection with the toddler’s Aug. 29, 2006, death.
They also face charges of criminal negligence and failing their parental duties. Litwin said testing of the dead girl’s organs found a significant level of methadone, a pain killer often used to wean drug addicts off more potent narcotics.
“The amount of methadone detected in her blood was very high ... within the lethal range for adults,” he said.
But Litwin could not determine the volume of liquid methadone Summer would have had to ingest to reach such limits.
