Skylar O’Kelly was emotional at times during his testimony Wednesday in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court.
O’Kelly, 23, is accused of second-degree murder and trafficking the August 2014 death of 22-year-old MSU student Parker Rodenbaugh. The defendant opted to testify Wednesday after the state rested. Following closing arguments this morning, Judge Lee Howard will hand the case to the jury.
Rodenbaugh died the night of Aug. 9, 2014, after taking a fatal dosage of 25B-NOMe, a synthetic drug similar to LSD, in his apartment. O’Kelly testified he provided Rodenbaugh two dosage units of the drug.
On the stand, O’Kelly recounted learning about his friend’s death from Starkville Police Department narcotics Det. Shawn Word hours after leaving the victim’s apartment.
“As soon as I heard that, I sat down and covered my head and yelled something along the lines of ‘I don’t want to ever do drugs ever again,'” O’Kelly testified. “I was devastated by the loss of my friend, and I didn’t want to have part of it anymore.”
During cross-examination, District Attorney Scott Colom noted that O’Kelly had purchased about 450 dosage units or “hits” of the 25B from a man in Oxford for $500. In testimony, O’Kelly said Rodenbaugh asked to pay for half of the 450 hits, but he didn’t have the money for it.
Still, Colom said O’Kelly’s statement to police indicated he agreed to let Rodenbaugh pay $20 for his two hits of the drug. O’Kelly said he never took the payment from Rodenbaugh. Colom, however, questioned the rate at which he reportedly agreed to take payments for the drug.
“At $10 a hit, 450 hits of 25B-NBOMe would be worth $4,500,” Colom said. “If you purchase it for $500 and sell it at $10 a hit, that’s worth $4,500 — is that not true?”
In his testimony, O’Kelly said he didn’t know the drugs were harmful or illegal.
“You’re really trying to tell this jury that you had no idea that synthetic LSD was illegal?” Colom asked. “Did you ever see — have you ever heard of anybody publicly purchasing synthetic LSD? Have you ever heard of a store anywhere in this country where you can go in and purchase synthetic LSD? Have you ever heard of anybody who openly and publicly sells synthetic LSD?”
O’Kelly said he was not aware of any of those things happening.
Colom also questioned why O’Kelly left Rodenbaugh when it became apparent something was wrong. O’Kelly said one of the people at the house told others to leave once they called an ambulance.
The defendant said he thought Rodenbaugh, in the hands of several sober friends, would be OK.
O’Kelly’s trial began Monday. Attorneys Joseph Holliman and Rod Ray are defending O’Kelly. Colom and Assistant District Attorney Marc Amos are prosecuting the case.
What happened
During his testimony, O’Kelly said he went to hang out with Rodenbaugh and some other friends the evening of the incident. He said Rodenbaugh wanted to take the drugs to “trip.” He initially refused, but went to his apartment, where he had about 450 hits of the drug, and returned to Rodenbaugh’s apartment with five hits — two for himself, one for his younger brother and two for Rodenbaugh.
O’Kelly said he did not force Rodenbaugh to take the drugs.
As the night wore on, O’Kelly said Rodenbaugh began to repeat himself, ran into a shelf and would say things like “Sam knows” and “Jake knows” over and over. Eventually, O’Kelly went to another room, but periodically checked on Rodenbaugh.
He said the last time he checked on Rodenbaugh, he could see his friends around Rodenbaugh — whose feet were spasming.
“Did you have any inkling that the situation at that point was life threatening?” Holliman asked.
O’Kelly said he did not.
About 30 minutes later, O’Kelly said, one of the people in the house came downstairs and told the others to leave because they’d called an ambulance for Rodenbaugh.
O’Kelly said he unsuccessfully attempted to contact Rodenbaugh via his phone and Facebook after he went home.
Later that night, he said Word called his cell phone and asked him to go outside to talk. He agreed, and when he went downstairs, he said Word began to question him.
O’Kelly said he was not aware he was a suspect at the time, and could not recall if he was offered his Miranda Rights.
Police took O’Kelly, along with his younger brother, to the police station, and O’Kelly was later questioned by detective Bill Lott. He said he did remember Lott informing him of his Miranda Rights.
O’Kelly was jailed that night, and said he didn’t find out what he was charged with until his bond hearing a few days later.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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