A woman accused of selling a fatal batch of fentanyl-laced heroin to a mother of three was in court in Schuylkill County on Tuesday.

Peggy Hill faced a preliminary hearing on a charge of drug delivery resulting in death in the March 15 death of Brittany Marley, 27.

Hill is accused of selling Marley and Marley’s boyfriend several bags of heroin just hours before Marley died of an overdose at the home that the couple shared in Coaldale.

Marley’s family members attended the hearing wearing shirts memorializing her, with #justiceforbrittany, #forever27, and a purple ribbon, which symbolizes recovery. Her mother, Marnie Perreault, traveled from Florida for the hearing and called it a tough day.

“I was up all night, I didn’t sleep, my daughter (Cayla) didn’t sleep,” she said. “There really is no way to prepare.”

Marley’s boyfriend, Paul Weirich, investigating officer James Bonner, of Coaldale Police Department, and Schuylkill County Detective Troy Green­awald all testified during Tuesday’s proceedings.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Magisterial District Judge Stephen Bayer denied a motion from Hill’s public defender to dismiss charges against Hill. Bayer determined there was enough evidence against Hill for the case to be heard in the Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas.

Weirich was emotional and at times combative with Hill’s public defender, William Burke, during his testimony.

He testified that on the night of March 14, around 11:30, he and Marley traveled with the co-worker to Hill’s house, where the couple bought approximately 15 bags of heroin.

Weirich testified that he and Marley returned to their home, where they injected heroin and fell asleep watching television. Weirich said they split the bags evenly between them, but he did not know exactly how much Marley ingested.

Weirich further testified that when he woke up, Marley was at the foot of their bed, had turned blue and was not responding to him.

Weirich said Marley’s pulse was faint, but still detectable.

Weirich said he called 911, and performed CPR on Marley because the dispatcher told him to. He said he did not know exactly what time he woke up.

“That was the last thing on my mind at the time,” he said. “I didn’t pick up a watch and see what time it was.”

Coaldale Police officer James Bonner testified Tuesday that the Schuylkill County coroner ruled Marley’s cause of death as acute fentanyl toxicity following an autopsy which took place March 18.

The coroner noted there were injection sites in Marley’s right arm.

Bonner testified that during a search of the home, officers found wax baggies — usually used to package heroin — beneath a pillow on the bed.

Bonner said that following the autopsy, Marley’s family members approached him with information about who Marley was with the day before she died.

Bonner subsequently interviewed a co-worker who said she drove Marley and Weirich to Hill’s then-residence, which was also located in Coaldale.

On April 18 he served a search warrant at a home in Nesquehoning where Hill and her husband had moved in the month since Marley’s death.

During the search, he seized a number of wax baggies, of a type that is typically used to package heroin.

The following day, he traveled to St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem, where Hill had just been discharged after surgery to amputate her leg.

He said Hill initially denied seeing Marley and Weirich, but later admitted to selling them a total of two bags of heroin, which Hill said the couple injected at her home.

Burke asked Bonner if Hill was on any pain medication during their interview. Bonner said she was not, but that he did not check that information with Hill’s doctors.

Greenawald testified that people buying heroin often end up unwittingly purchasing either a mix of heroin and fentanyl, or in some cases 100 percent pure fentanyl.

Following the hearing, Burke, Hill’s attorney, asked for the charges to be dismissed because the prosecution had failed to present testimony that the bags found where Marley died matched those that were found at Hill’s home.

Judge Bayer denied the motion, sending the charges to common pleas court.