USA - Man Convicted of Controlled Substance Homicide Following Methadone Death

[Phungushead]

Moses Lake man convicted on Controlled Substance Homicide charge

GRANT COUNTY, Wash. - A Moses Lake man was the first person in Grant County to be charged and tried with Controlled Substance Homicide.

Corey Christman, 30, was found guilty on October 2 of providing 19-year-old Ryan Mulder with more methadone pills. Mulder took the pills during a party on Septmeber 7, 2008. He was found the next morning and flown to Deaconess where he was later declared brain dead.

Police say he took the more than nine methadone pills given to him in less than two hours.

Christman is facing a sentence of between 51 and 68 months in prison.
The Grant County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit has investigated at least five methadone overdoses resulting in death in the last two years.

The Major Crime Unit along with the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (INET) will continue to vigorously investigate all prescription and non-prescription drug overdoses where third parties either transfer prescription medications to a non-prescribed party or by knowledge provide illicit drugs that would do harm or incur death.


Posted: Oct 6, 2009 03:29 PM

http://www.kndu.com/Global/story.asp?S=11269282

[Phungushead]

EPHRATA — A jury found a 30-year-old Moses Lake man guilty of giving a man methadone, leading to his death.

Corey Christman was convicted of a controlled substances homicide by a jury.

Christman gave a 19-year-old Moses Lake man nine methadone pills during a September 2008 party at the Moses Lake sand dunes.

The victim went to a party at the sand dunes in early September with several other people. When he got there Christman provided him methadone three times, giving him the pills twice and directing him to the shirt pocket where the pills were stored once, according to a Grant County Sheriff’s report. The man received the pills from his mother to help with back pain.

Witnesses told police the man also drank alcohol, and may have consumed other drugs at the parties. When the group headed to a residence, the victim started having small seizures, but didn’t want to go to a hospital.
While the group of people discussed calling 9-1-1, a witness stated they were too scared. Two of the people led the man to their house and let him sleep in their carport.

The next morning people found the victim struggling to breathe and his face was blue. They called 9-1-1. The victim was transported from the scene to Samaritan Hospital and then transferred to Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane. He died two days later, according to the police report.

The Spokane Medical Examiner’s Office found the victim died because of a “use of methadone, methamphetamine and alcohol.”


Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 - 04:06:38 pm PDT

By Cameron Probert
Columbia Basin Herald
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/a...2220614402.txt