FARMINGTON — A father and son pleaded guilty Friday to furnishing morphine pills to a Farmington woman who died of an overdose after her birthday party at her home in 2012.

Roy Gordon, 42, and his son, Seth Gordon, 23, both of Wilton, pleaded guilty to felony unlawful furnishing of a scheduled drug in Franklin County Superior Court.

Four people have now pleaded guilty in the case involving the Nov. 11, 2012, death of Marilyn Rider, 52, who lived at 103 Silver Maple Lane. Roy Gordon was Rider’s boyfriend.

If the case against Seth Gordon had gone to trial, Assistant District Attorney James Andrews said testimony would have been heard from a Farmington police officer that Gordon told him that he assisted in setting up a purchase of morphine pills from Terry Oliver, 54, of Wilton the day before the birthday party. Testimony also would have been heard that he assisted in injecting Rider intravenously with the morphine, Andrews said.

A medical examiner would have testified that toxicology tests showed that Rider’s body had a high level of morphine in the blood, Andrews said.

Sentencing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Nov. 1 but may be changed to another day.

A cap on a sentencing agreement is two years of a possible five-year sentence. Defense attorney Tom Carey said he could argue for less time.

In Roy Gordon’s case, testimony would have been heard that he admitted supplying and furnishing 30 milligram morphine pills, Andrews said.

Roy Gordon’s attorney, Woody Hanstein, said Gordon was pleading guilty to giving Eric Barnes, 28, of Skowhegan, the fifth defendant in the case, 30 milligram morphine pills.

Hanstein also told the court that an intelligence screening was done showing Roy Gordon was mentally retarded.

His sentence also carries a two-year cap. He, too, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1 with expectation that the date will change.

Oliver is also scheduled to be sentenced at the same time as the Gordons.

Oliver pleaded guilty in May to a felony charge of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs. A conviction on the charge carries up to 10 years in prison.

She also pleaded guilty to violation of condition of release in the case.

She has been held without bail in jail for more than six months. She had been scheduled to be sentenced Friday but attorneys didn’t have a necessary report.

Scott Kidder, 32, of Wilton, another co-defendant, pleaded guilty in March to furnishing morphine. He received a three-year suspended sentence and two years of probation.

Barnes, formerly of Industry, has asked for a bench trial in front of a judge. He faces a felony charge of unlawful furnishing a scheduled drug and a misdemeanor charge of falsifying physical evidence. The trial is expected to occur this month.

All five co-defendants were arrested on Feb. 14 after Farmington police received a report from the Office of the Maine Medical Examiner on the cause of Rider’s death, which was an overdose.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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