The Pensacola woman who gave her Escambia County jail cell mate enough fentanyl to kill five people was sentenced to spend the rest of her life in a Florida prison following a jury’s decision to convict her.
A jury found Pamela Schwarz guilty June 20 of murdering Shirley Barney in 2022 after giving her fentanyl and watching Barney slowly slip into unconsciousness before dying of an overdose.
Following the jury’s verdict, Chief Judge John Miller sentenced Schwarz to life in state prison without the possibility of parole. He also sentenced her to five years for smuggling contraband into a detention facility and tampering with evidence.
Shirley Barney slowly died of fentanyl as Pamela Schwarz watched
According to a medical examiner’s autopsy report of Barney discussed in a law enforcement report, a toxicology analysis of Barney’s blood revealed she had 17 nanograms of fentanyl per milliliter of blood and 0.93 nanograms of parafluorofentanyl per milliliter of blood.
The report noted that as little as 3 nanograms per milliliter can be fatal, making Barney’s fentanyl blood levels nearly six times higher than what is deemed lethal.
Assistant State Attorney Amy Shea told the jury during the first trial that Schwarz smuggled in an unknown amount of fentanyl while she was booked at the jail, allegedly sneaking it past guards in an inconspicuous location in her body.
Law enforcement reports state that jail surveillance footage shows Barney begin the overdose, at which time Schwarz begins collecting “small object(s)” around the dying woman.
“Schwarz then grabbed Barney’s arm and threw it across her (own) body and moved Barney’s right leg onto the bunk and covered her with a blanket,” the report says. “Schwarz then adjusts the blanket obscuring the window and goes about various housekeeping tasks inside the cell.”
First Pamela Schwarz trial ends in mistrial after inadmissible testimony
Schwarz began a two-day scheduled trial in April 2024, but attorneys didn’t get through half of the testimony before a witness provided inadmissible statements in front of the jury.
Circuit Judge Jennie Kinsey, who presided over the first trial, granted the defense’s motion for a mistrial and had to reset the case on the docket.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Jury convicts Pamela Schwarz of killing woman with fentanyl and attempting to cover it up
Reporting by Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
