College hosts Fulbright scholar

PALMER -- Palmer Superior Court Judge Eric Smith ruled Thursday there was not sufficient evidence to show that caregiver Tracy Brevak gave a lethal dose of morphine to Mary Priest, a Wasilla woman who died of colon cancer last year.

Smith's ruling came at the conclusion of a probate hearing involving the fate of Priest's estate. Priest's estranged daughter, Linda Bradford of Seattle, launched the case because she became suspicious after her mother left nearly her entire estate to Brevak and another hospice worker in a hand-written will drafted three days before she died.

That estate contained Priest's trailer and $10,000. In the weeks before her death, Priest authorized Brevak to spend nearly $29,000 from her checking and savings accounts.

After Priest's death on June 19, 2003, Bradford ordered a blood sample to be taken from Priest's body. That sample showed there were apparently lethal levels of morphine in Priest's system.

Smith said he understood why Priest's daughter was suspicious about her mother's death, but went on to say Brevak lacked a clear motive for killing Priest and that the evidence did not prove Priest died of a morphine overdose.

Bradford's attorney, William Tull, argued that Brevak killed Priest when she heard Priest's family was coming to visit, because she didn't want Priest to change her mind about the will.

But hospice records showed that by the time the family members said they were coming, Priest was largely unresponsive, could barely speak or move, weighed only 85 pounds and was actively dying.

Smith said he didn't see how Priest could have "resurrected herself" to change her mind about the will when the family arrived.

Expert witnesses testified Thursday about the morphine levels found in Priest's blood after her death, but could not agree on how the levels got so high.

Smith said Priest's blood did indeed show a lethal dose of morphine after death, but there are several medical explanations for this besides overdose.

Dr. William Lamers, a toxicologist from California, testified by telephone that drugs tend to concentrate in the central part of the body after death and there is a high degree of error in trying to determine drug levels from postmortem blood samples.

"Her death doesn't look like a morphine overdose," Lamers said. "There is no reason to believe that postmortem drug levels were the same as antemortem levels."

Dr. Donald Rogers, who tested Priest's blood after her death at Bradford's request, took most of the blood sample from the heart, where morphine would have concentrated after death, Lamers said.

Rogers said he was unable to get a sample from elsewhere in the body because Priest left instructions in her will not to perform an autopsy, as it would violate her religious beliefs. Priest was Jewish.

The judge also cited medical records showing that in the days leading up to Priest's death, her breathing was slowing and her body quickly shutting down.

In addition, Smith said that the amount of morphine disposed of after Priest's death was consistent with dosages in hospice records, and there was not enough taken out of the dosages to kill Priest.

Nevertheless, no one was able to explain why postmortem morphine levels were so high. Smith said any child would have suspicions about the situation.

"This is a sad thing for everybody, I understand that," Smith said. "I understand why Ms. Bradford had her concerns, but the evidence wasn't there."

Because there was no satisfactory explanation of how postmortem and antemortem drug levels differ, Smith said he could not make the conclusion that Priest was given a lethal morphine dose.

Smith said he had to look at other factors in the case, such as the experts at Mat-Su Hospice, who said Brevak was a sound caregiver. Or that Priest rewrote her will before she began morphine medication, when she was sober and clear about what she wanted. By the time of her death, Smith said, Priest was unresponsive and it was difficult to see the motive for speeding up the process of death.

Smith concluded there were no signs consistent with a morphine overdose in Priest's death.

Attorney William Tull's office said Bradford has not decided whether she will appeal the decision.

"I'm just glad it's over, now she can rest in peace," a tearful Brevak said after the decision. "All we ever did was love her."

After the trial, Brevak's husband, George Brevak, said in the five weeks his wife provided care to Priest, the woman adopted them as family and would have them and their four young daughters over for dinner frequently.

"She was a sweet old lady, the most loving woman you'd ever meet," George Brevak said. "I'm happy the truth is out now. We loved her and that's all there is to it."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.

com.