State v. Carithers

OPINION

PARKER, Judge.

This is a certified question, arising from two consolidated trial court cases, asking whether the third-degree murder provision for drug overdose deaths, Minn.Stat. § 609.195(b) (1990), can be applied to persons whose sharing of heroin caused their spouses’ deaths. We answer the question in the affirmative, reverse the trial court’s order, and remand the case for trial.

FACTS

Debra Carithers’ husband died from opiate poisoning. Defendant Carithers admitted she purchased $150 worth of heroin for the two of them to split. She used half of the heroin and saved the remainder…