State v. Thomas

464 Md. 133 (2019)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Colton Lee Matrey was found unresponsive, had no pulse, and was not breathing. Emergency Medical Services and Ocean Pines Police Officer Kerrigan arrived at the residence and located Colton seated on the toilet in the bathroom with his head propped on the vanity top. They pronounced Colton deceased. It was determined that Colton died of a probable heroin overdose. The County Criminal Enforcement Team was contacted and asked to respond to conduct a criminal investigation of the circumstances surrounding Colton's death. Detective Johns arrived at the residence and located one white wax paper bag inside Colton's right hand. There were three additional identical white wax paper bags on the ground directly beneath Colton between the toilet and the vanity. Each one of these bags was stamped ['banshee'] in blue, with a blue-colored emblem. Those packages contained trace amounts of suspected contraband [and] are what Johns knows is commonly used to contain heroin. Located in Colton's bedroom were four additional hypodermic syringes, a spoon, and a Q-tip inside of a folded pair of Colton's jeans in the closet. These were identified by Johns as heroin paraphernalia. There was also a prescription pill bottle with the label torn off that contained six 50-milligram tramadol pills, which is a Schedule IV [CDS]. It was determined that Colton did not have a prescription for the tramadol pills and possibly had taken these pills, unknowingly, from his mother. Johns spoke with the individuals who were present in the residence at the time [of Colton's death]. In addition to the mother, there was her boyfriend and the girlfriend of Colton. Colton had been abusing heroin for approximately four[-]and[-]a[-]half years. That evening Colton had borrowed his mother’s debit card to rent movies but had also withdrawn $40 and took her car later that night. He went to buy heroin, ingested it, and died. D was discovered to have sold Colton the 4 baggies of heroin that night. A search and seizure warrant was authorized and drugs and drug paraphernalia were found in the open. An autopsy revealed that Colton died of alcohol and narcotic (free morphine) intoxication. The manner of death could not be determined. The autopsy detected increased levels of alcohol and a drug (free morphine) in the heart blood of the deceased and also showed evidence of heart disease and injuries to the head, neck, back, upper extremities, and lower extremities. The trial court found D guilty of distribution of heroin, reckless endangerment, and involuntary manslaughter. The State presented unlawful act manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter. The court found D guilty of both. D appealed. It held that P failed to establish causation sufficient to convict D of unlawful act manslaughter. As for gross negligence manslaughter, the Court concluded that 'P failed to carry its burden of proof in that there was not sufficient evidence of gross negligence and that D must be the 'but for' cause of the victim's death, but 'the causal chain was broken.' P appealed.