Jury Finds Heather Specyalski Not Guilty in Her Son's Overdose Death

Heather Specyalski has again avoided conviction of a manslaughter charge after a jury on Thursday, March 21, found her not guilty in the 2008 overdose death of her 15-year-old son, Brandon Specyalski.

The state had accused Specyalski of negligent homicide, second-degree manslaughter and three counts of risk of injury to minor but a jury in Danielson Superior Court today acquitted her of all charges, according to the Hartford Courant.

Specyalski now lives in Killingly and her trial, in Danielson Superior Court, went to the jury on Wednesday.

About 10 years ago Specyalski was acquitted of manslaughter in the death of prominent Rocky Hill businessman Neil Esposito, who was killed in a car accident on Route 9 that nearly took Specyalski’s life as well.

Her 2004 trial riveted those in the Hartford region and beyond, in part because Esposito, who was 42 at the time, was a member of a powerful and politically well-connected family. Some critics believed the family used its connections with then-governor John Rowland to get the state to bring charges against Specyalski, a former model who lived in Vernon at the time.

Specyalski cried when the verdict was read, the Courant reported. The trial, which centered around the state's accusations that Specyalski allowed her son to party in her home with friends and even bought alcohol for them, lasted more than a week.