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Accused of selling the drugs that resulted in two overdose deaths, three women and one man in Price are now facing manslaughter charges — a count that prosecutors say is unique for narcotic cases.
In 2013, two men died from drug overdoses in Price: 38-year-old Anthony Joseph Compton died in August of that year, while Trevor Jay "T.J." Whiteside died in December.
Carbon County prosecutors have since filed manslaughter charges against four people who they say sold Compton and Whiteside the drugs that caused their deaths.
Alejandra Dunn, 27, is charged in 7th District Court with second-degree felony manslaughter and first-degree felony distribution of a controlled substance in relation to Compton's death.
Jason Jaimez, 37, Shelbi Mower, 37, and Amee Averett, 23, are charged with the same counts, both filed as second-degree felonies, in connection with Whiteside's heroin overdose death.
Deputy Carbon County Attorney Jeremy Humes said recently the two overdose deaths are unrelated. He said it was an unusual move by prosecutors to file a manslaughter charge in connection to a drug overdose death.
"It's pretty simple," Humes said of the state's theory. "If you are not a pharmacist or a doctor [distributing drugs], that's reckless behavior. We're alleging that that reckless conduct resulted in a person's death."
Utah State Code allows for a manslaughter charge when someone "recklessly causes the death of another."A person is reckless, the statute says, if he or she is aware of, but consciously disregards, the substantial risk that their actions cause.
"The reason we did [file charges] on these is because we were able to directly link how the drugs were provided to the person," Humes said. "It will be unique. I think there's a solid legal basis for it."
Defense attorney David Allred, who represents both Dunn and Averett, called the manslaughter filing a "creative" move by prosecutors. He said he's never seen a case like this, and said that there is little Utah case law that addresses the issue.
He said other states support this sort of manslaughter charges, while others do not.
"It's kind of a slippery slope," Allred said. "Once you start down it — if the court supports these kind of charges — where does it stop?"
Allred said he has not yet received the evidence for Averett, who was officially charged just last week, but said he is working to resolve Dunn's case. For now, a preliminary hearing is still scheduled next month for Dunn.
At the hearing, prosecutors will present evidence and a judge will decide whether there is probable cause that Dunn committed a crime. If so, he will order her to stand trial on the charges.
Allred said he will ask the judge to dismiss the manslaughter charge at that hearing.
The manslaughter charges for the alleged drug dealers appears to be unusual in Utah. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said he doesn't believe his office has filed similar charges, saying it's not a theory they've pursued in the past. Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman said his office has filed similar cases before, but said they are "very fact-dependent" and prosecutors must show a causal connection — that it was the defendants' drugs that led to a person's death.
That connection — and the question of the defendant's mind-set and whether they were aware the buyer was likely to die — has stopped Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings from ever filing a similar manslaughter case. "We would engage such a prosecution if the elements could be proven to a unanimous jury beyond a reasonable doubt," he said, emphasizing that such a case has not been presented to his office.
All four Price defendants will appear in court in November. Averett and Dunn have preliminary hearings scheduled for Nov. 21, while Mower's initial appearance is scheduled for Monday and a scheduling conference is set for Jaimez on Nov. 24.
Averett is also charged in Carbon County's justice court with class B misdemeanor for allegedly writing a false police statement in connection to the July 29 death of Brian William Swink. Three other people are charged with murder in connection to Swink's death. They are accused of locking the man in a Price basement, where Swink likely started a fire that killed him. A preliminary hearing in the case was held earlier this month, but a judge has yet to rule whether Michael Dees, James Pendleton and Ashley Platt will stand trial on the murder charges.
Twitter: @jm_miller