Staff photo by Mathew Plamondon William Luna reacts as he gets the verdict from the jury, he was found guilty on four of six drug-related charges including sale of a controlled drug–death resulting. He awaits his sentencing hearing, scheduled for Feb. 13.

NASHUA – Members of the jury spent nearly 11 hours in deliberation before they returned with their verdicts on six drug-related charges in the trial of 45-year-old Lowell, Massachusetts resident William Luna on Friday.

The jury came in front of Judge Jacalyn Colburn at Hillsborough County Superior Court-South after finishing their deliberation with a split verdict. They found Luna guilty on four of the six charges he faced, including the most serious charge, sale of a controlled drug-death resulting, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

In addition to the death resulting conviction, Luna was also found guilty on one count of sale of a controlled drug-acts prohibited, as well as two of four possession of a controlled drug charges.

During the closing arguments of the trial, Luna, through his attorney Anthony Naro, conceded three of the charges: two counts of possession of a controlled drug and one count a sale of a controlled drug.

In the case of the death resulting charge, Luna was found guilty of selling fentanyl to Nicholas Wells on June 20, 2017. The jury deemed that the fentanyl provided by Luna directly resulted in a fatal overdose by Wells, who at the time was 25. Wells, who had been texting Luna the previous day, was found by his father at around 6 a.m. Authorities later arrested Luna the day of Wells’ overdose and charged him with sale of a controlled drug-death resulting.

Throughout the trial, Assistant Attorneys General Jesse O’Neill and Heather Cherniske brought strong evidence against the defendant, including a large volume of texts between Luna and Wells, all relating to selling and buying drugs. The prosecution argued this evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Luna was the drug dealer who sold the fatal dose to Wells.

Both Naro and Luna’s other attorney, Marc Gouthro, countered the prosecution by offering evidence that Wells had many other contacts with whom he talked about drugs. They based their case on the fact that Wells could have received the fentanyl from a number of sources other than Luna.

After hearing the verdict, Naro waived a pre-sentencing investigation and requested a sentencing memorandum and asked for 60 days, which was agreed upon by the state. The sentencing hearing was by set Judge Colburn for a half-day, starting at 10 a.m. Feb. 13.