Altoona man acquitted of charge of drug delivery resulting in death
Caldwell guilty of possession with intent to deliver fentanyl
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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Blair County jury acquitted the city man charged with delivering the drugs that resulted in the overdose death of 40-year-old Christy Clifford in April 2025 and convicted him on three related counts Thursday afternoon.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated about two hours before finding Danny Lee Caldwell Jr., 38, not guilty of felony drug delivery resulting in death, while finding him guilty of single felony counts of possession with intent to deliver fentanyl and criminal use of a communication facility and a misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering another person.
The charges were brought against Caldwell after he called 911 to seek help for Clifford and administered five doses of Narcan to no avail. Paramedics transported Clifford to UPMC Altoona, where she was declared brain dead days later, the police report states.
After the verdict was read, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Thomas asked for Caldwell to be remanded to the Blair County Prison to await sentencing. He has been held at the prison in lieu of $500,000 bail since his arrest on July 17, 2025.
Chief Public Defender Julia Burke objected to the motion, telling President Judge Wade A. Kagarise that she didn't "believe remand is appropriate."
"(Caldwell's) been incarcerated for over a year at this point," Burke said.
Kagarise ultimately granted the prosecution's request to return Caldwell to prison.
Before the day's proceedings began, Kagarise revisited the motion for judgment of acquittal Burke made following Wednesday's testimony. Burke asked Kagarise to dismiss all counts except the felony charge of criminal use of a communication facility, arguing that an element for those counts required Caldwell doing something that put Clifford at risk of serious bodily injury or death. She said the evidence presented was insufficient "as a matter of law" and that Caldwell obtaining drugs from Alicia Zelanko was "speculative at best."
When Kagarise asked Burke if the Uber driver's testimony, in which he alleged to driving Caldwell and Clifford to Zelanko's residence in Claysburg to purchase drugs, would not allow the jury to come to the reasonable conclusion that Caldwell purchased drugs from Zelanko, Burke said the evidence was circumstantial. She also said the driver was not credible as he had a "history of lying to police in order to get attention."
Thomas disagreed, telling Kagarise that he thought there was sufficient evidence to give the charges to the jury for deliberation.
As for the misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, Burke referenced Pennsylvania's "Good Samaritan Law," which states that a person can't be charged and has immunity from prosecution for any offense regarding drugs, except for drug delivery or drug delivery resulting in death, if that person stays on scene and seeks help for the person overdosing.
She argued that, as Caldwell stayed with Clifford, gave her five doses of Narcan and called for emergency services, he could not be charged with those misdemeanor counts.
On Thursday morning, Thomas informed Kagarise that the prosecution would be withdrawing the misdemeanor counts. Kagarise then ordered that the remaining counts be given to the jury for deliberation.
The jury was then brought into the courtroom for closing arguments, during which Burke said the prosecution was asking them to make "logical leaps." Burke told the jury the biggest leap involved money, saying if people suffering from addiction "have cash, they're going to spend it on drugs." She referred to text messages shown by the prosecution, in which Caldwell told Zelanko he only had $70 and wouldn't be able to buy all of the drugs he wanted, then reminded the jury that the Uber driver had testified to receiving a $20 tip from Caldwell following the trip and watching him buy food at Sheetz.
"The evidence is consistent with (Caldwell) switching plans," Burke said.
She also argued that not only did the timing of Clifford's overdose "not line up," the police's failure to test used drug packaging and a used syringe on scene was "frustrating."
"That's not good enough, not for criminal court," Burke said.
In his own closing arguments, Thomas told the jury that "no one's pretending (Caldwell) is a major drug kingpin" but that he did contribute to Clifford's overdose death. He then reiterated much of the evidence presented at trial and asked the jury to find Caldwell guilty.
Following the jury's verdict, Kagarise scheduled Caldwell for sentencing at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 23.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.