A former Fayette County man pleaded guilty on Monday to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter for providing drugs to an East Huntingdon man who died of an overdose in 2020.

Steven T. Shively, 36, now of Mt. Pleasant Township, was originally charged with a felony count of drug delivery resulting in death in connection to the overdose of 30-year-old Jason M. Schwartz. Prosecutors contended Shively traded fentanyl-laced heroin to Schwartz for Klonopin pills.

Assistant District Attorney Adam Barr said evidentiary issues led to a deal in which Shively agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor offenses of involuntary manslaughter and drug counts in return for no additional jail time.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears sentenced Shively to serve 6 to 23 months in jail, but paroled him immediately. Shively served 218 days in jail following his arrest and has been free on bail for the last four years. The judge also ordered Shively serve an additional five years on probation, a term that includes one year of house arrest.

Police said Schwartz was found dead in his home on Aug. 2, 2020, from an overdose.

According to court records, Shively told investigators he and Schwartz had both been in recovery for drug addiction and relapsed. Shively said he visited with Schwartz several days earlier, when he traded heroin for pills.

“He was my best friend,” Shively told the judge and Schwartz’s mother, who watched the hearing from the back of the courtroom. “I have to live with this and your family has to live with this. If I could take it all back, I would.”

Schwartz’s mother, Kim, did not speak during the hearing. The judge read a letter she wrote in which she forgave Shively and explained how her son’s injuries while playing high school football led to addiction.

“The doctors told him don’t let the pain get ahead of him,” Schwartz wrote in her letter, noting her son had been sober for two years prior to his overdose.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)