UPDATE: A jury found Jeffrey VanArk Jr. of New London guilty of first degree reckless homicide for his friend's drug overdose death.
Jeffrey VanArk Jr. was convicted of selling his friend Brandon Shadduck methadone, that he was getting from a Fox Valley treatment clinic.
Friday in Outagamie County Court, both attorneys gave their final arguments to the jury. The state argued text messages showed VanArk was planning on meeting up with Shadduck to sell him the methadone, so he could pay his rent.
The defense argued all that evidence was circumstantial. They said VanArk passed his drug test and showed a positive result for methadone at the clinic, just days after Shadduck is presumed to have died. VanArk's attorney claimed that proved VanArk couldn't have sold his dose of methadone.
The jury deliberated for about an hour and a half before reached their result of a guilty verdict.
"Unfortunately their aren't any winners in cases like this and it just kind of reiterates and illustrates how dangerous drugs can be whether their illicit drugs or prescription drugs," said prosecuting attorney, Melinda Tempelis.
NBC26 reached out to the VanArk family and the defense attorney, but both declined to comment at this time.
Jeffrey VanArk Jr. will be held in Outagamie County Jail until his sentencing which is scheduled for June 8th.
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Wednesday marks the second day of trial as the jury gathered evidence and come closer to a decision on VanArk's fate.
The state called nearly a dozen witnesses to the stand as they worked to piece together a timeline of events leading up to Brandon Shadduck's death.
With each witness a new sticker was added to the timeline, representing something that happened before Shadduck was found dead of a methadone overdose.
The state called friends, coworkers Van Ark's landlord and treatment clinic workers to the stand in an effort to make their case.
Late Wednesday afternoon it was VanArk's wife on the stand who admitted her and her husband had just had a baby and were both out of a job around early October 2014. She also admitted she knew her husband would sometimes sell methadone he would get from the treatment clinic to pay the rent and that she wanted no part in that.
However VanArk's attorney claimed there's no proof his client sold methadone to Shadduck.
He used records for the methadone clinic to show VanArk's test results always show he had methadone in his system. Despite the defense didn't call any witnesses to the stand today they plan to call on several people early tomorrow morning.
Shadduck was found dead of a methadone overdose on October 8, 2014.
If VanArk is found guilty, he could be facing up to 40 years in prison.
