Pair cops innocent pleas to Lynn drug dealing charges

SALEM – Two men, facing a mandatory seven years in state prison after police caught them peddling heroin in Lynn, remain held at the Middleton Jail each on $25,000 cash bail after pleading innocent.Jessie Butler, 20, of 242 Newbury St., Peabody, and John Marino, 21, of 372 Tremont St., Melrose, pleaded not guilty to trafficking over 28 grams of heroin before Salem Superior Court Judge Timothy Q. Feeley.Butler also pleaded not guilty to additional charges of two counts of carrying a firearm without a license and two counts of distribution of heroin in connection with the case.Assistant District Attorney John B. Brennan argued for double the bail amount set, saying the charges stem from a series of drug sales that began with Butler when he allegedly sold six twists of heroin for $300 to an undercover officer in Lynn on Aug. 19.The two men negotiated another deal a week later and on Sept. 9 on South Common Street, Marino helped negotiate the deal, at which time both men were arrested and charged.Police said two fingers of heroin or approximately 35 grams, was seized during their arrest along with a quantity of cash.Brennan maintains that men acted “jointly” in the drug operation.Defense lawyers, Sierra Rosen and Eric R. Jarosz, respectively, tried unsuccessfully to convince the judge to reduce the bail to $2,500 for Butler and $5,000 for Marino.The suspects are due back in court on Jan. 19 for a pretrial conference.