EASTON, Pa. — Attorneys delivered opening arguments in the trial of Christopher Ferrante Monday afternoon, laying out a road map for the coming days.
- Lawyers presented opening arguments in the trial of Christopher Ferrante
- Ferrante is charged with providing drugs to former wrestler Michael 'Mikey' Racciato, who died of an overdose in 2020
- The case attracted scrutiny during the primary election for Northampton County district attorney earlier this year
Michael Racciato — a state champion wrestler from Pen Argyl all but exclusively referred to as “Mikey” throughout proceedings — died of a drug overdose on Christmas Eve 2020.
Ferrante, 43, of Macungie, is charged with providing the drugs that killed Racciato, along with two counts each of drug possession with the intent to deliver, simple possession and criminal use of a communication facility.
In pretrial proceedings Monday morning, defense attorney Gary Asteak told the court that Ferrante had worked as an informant for the Allentown Police Department, and bought drugs at their behest twice in the weeks before Racciato’s death.
In an email, Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca said his department does not "work with informants who choose to operate outside the rules in violation of any law."
The case took on political importance for District Attorney Terry Houck ahead of the primary election in May. Stephen Baratta, a former judge seeking to oust Houck, forcefully criticized how prosecutors handled Ferrante’s prosecution.
Shortly before Election Day, Baratta predicted that the case against Ferrante would soon be thrown out because of what he called the prosecution’s incompetence.
Asteak asked Northampton County Judge John Morganelli to dismiss the charges, making essentially the same argument as Baratta. Morganelli, himself a former longtime county district attorney, declined to do so.
Opening arguments
Arguing for the prosecution, Assistant District Attorney Patricia Turzyn began by painting the jury a picture of the 26-year-old Racciato’s death, alone in his car, parked outside a Lower Nazareth Township hotel.
If the story of Racciato’s death is tragic, Turzyn told the jury, “the facts leading up to Mikey’s death are criminal.”
The prosecution described Ferrante as a drug dealer who would do anything to make money — including, they say, giving a ride to an addict hospitalized in a string of overdoses, but only if he would buy at least five bags of fentanyl.
Turzyn said the prosecution will prove, largely through expert testimony and analysis of the specific cocktail of drugs recovered from Racciato’s body, that the same drugs that killed Racciato came from Ferrante.
A 2013 graduate of Pen Argyl Area High School, Racciato was a standout athlete and three-time PIAA state wrestling champion. He wrestled collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh and won the 2015 ACC title at 149 pounds.
“Mikey killed Mikey. We all killed Mikey. Mikey wanted to die, and we all helped him.”Gary Asteak, Christopher Ferrante's defense attorney
The defense, on the other hand, laid out “the story of two heroin buddies,” as Asteak told the jury. “It’s a sad, sad story.”
Asteak described Racciato as a former “golden boy” who after graduating college lost the adulation he had long enjoyed as a champion wrestler. He said he became profoundly depressed, and without another way to cope, he turned to heroin.
Asteak said Ferrante met on an Allentown street corner, and the pair bonded over their mutual addiction. He told the jury that after a while, the pair started sharing heroin and buying for each other.
The defense does not dispute that Ferrante gave Racciato drugs shortly before his death. However, Asteak argued that the drugs Ferrante gave Racciato did not definitively cause his fatal overdose.
Asteak blamed many for Racciato’s death: the Allentown Police Department; the police who didn’t intervene despite a series of encounters; the hospitals who discharged him without treating the underlying addiction; and in particular, Racciato’s parents. He even partially blamed Ferrante.
The defense will argue that while his client may have “failed his friend,” he didn’t kill him. Asteak called Ferrante a “scapegoat.”
“Mikey killed Mikey. We all killed Mikey,” Asteak said. “Mikey wanted to die, and we all helped him.”
Asteak said he will not call many witnesses, instead relying on questioning the prosecution’s witnesses. As in any criminal trial, the defense only needs to create “reasonable doubt” in jurors’ minds to secure a not-guilty verdict.
The trial is expected to last through Friday, and may stretch into next week.
