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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough has granted a request by prosecutors to obtain the medical records for homicide victim Fred Boote.
				Prosecutors believe trace amounts of amphetamine and methamphetamine found in Boote&rsquo;s blood came from prescription pills.
				Boote, 58, was found dead inside his Donald Court, Wilkes-Barre, home on Sept. 14, 2018.
				Assistant district attorneys Anthony G. Ross III and Drew McLaughlin have said Boote was stabbed 52 times and his body burned with gasoline.
				City police charged Reynaldo Mercado, 33, and Louisa Reyes, 15, with conspiring to kill Boote in a scheme to rob him of money. Police allege they got away with $25.
				Ross and McLaughlin earlier this month filed a motion seeking to preclude Boote&rsquo;s toxicology report showing he had trace amounts of amphetamine and methamphetamine in his blood. Prosecutors are also seeking to prohibit Mercado from introducing a self-defense claim to jurors.
				In a filing last week, prosecutors say the toxicology report showed the controlled substances found in Boote&rsquo;s blood had medicinal purposes and Boote had prescriptions filled at CVS Pharmacy.
				Vough granted prosecutors permission to obtain all records of medical prescriptions Boote had filled from Jan. 1, 2017 to Sept. 14, 2018, including types of medicine, quantity and dates prescriptions were filled.
				&ldquo;These records are material to the investigation and also to the court&rsquo;s determination of the pending motion to exclude the results of the toxicology report,&rdquo; Ross and McLaughlin wrote in the motion.
				Mercado&rsquo;s attorney, Allyson L. Kacmarski, filed motions earlier this month seeking to exclude prosecutors from telling jurors about a sexual relationship between Mercado and Reyes and also requested a separate trial.
				Kacmarski believes Reyes, who is represented by Attorney Frank T. McCabe II, may intend to introduce evidence of her age as well as the sexual relationship that existed as part of her defense.
				Kacmarski claims Reyes&rsquo; possible defense strategy and testimony will be prejudicial and unfair to Mercado, who is more than twice the age of Reyes.
				In a previous ruling, Vough denied a request by McCabe to transfer Reyes&rsquo; case for prosecution and rehabilitation to juvenile court.
				Vough has not ruled to split the trial into two nor has he ruled on the request by prosecutors to prohibit Mercado from using a self-defense strategy.
				Mercado claimed he defended Reyes after he believed Boote was sexually assaulting her.
				Police alleged Reyes, whose mother lived with Boote at one time, talked her way inside Boote&rsquo;s house leaving the front door partially open. Mercado entered and killed Boote in a bedroom having Reyes retrieve gasoline from a garage he used to burn the body, court records say.
				Reyes is facing charges of second-degree murder while Mercado is facing an open count of criminal homicide.
				Vough scheduled jury selection to begin Nov. 13 with the trial to commence Nov. 16.

Judge grants request by prosecutors to secure homicide victim’s prescription records