On Tuesday the Germantown oral surgeon accused of murdering his girlfriend was in court, as the second week of his trial begins.
Dr. James Ryan is facing second degree murder charges for allegedly giving his then girlfriend, 29-year-old Sarah Harris, access to drugs that led to her overdose on January 26, 2022. Maryland’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Harris’s cause of death was ketamine and diazepam intoxication. Ryan is the owner of Evolution Oral Surgery. Prosecutors say the oral surgeon retrieved drugs from his practice and is guilty of a “depraved heart” murder.
The basis of this trial will be jurors deciding if Harris’s death was an accident, criminal, or suicide. In the courtroom, multiple Montgomery County officers testified and revealed text messages between Ryan and Harris. The messages show Harris asking Ryan for drugs and Ryan also offering to get the drugs and administer them. In one particular conversation a month before Harris died, Ryan also wrote that he gave Harris Ketamine. Investigators also pointed to a conversation Harris had with her ex-boyfriend stating she overdosed in December of 2021.
Harris’s family also testified that they were worried about her after noticing she was wearing long sleeves to hide her drug use, weeks before her death.
The trial continued Wednesday morning and is expected to wrap up on Friday.
