A 32-year-old Minnesota woman was sentenced to 103 months in prison after selling fentanyl to a St. Cloud man who overdosed and died in 2016, according to Sherburne County Attorney’s Office.
Beverly Nicole Burrell was convicted of third-degree murder and a third-degree drug crime in April. This sentence will be served consecutively with a 172-month sentence she is already serving from similar convictions out of Hennepin County.
Sherburne County Attorney Kathy Heaney said the death of Dustin Peltier, a decorated combat veteran, was another tragedy in the current opiate addiction crisis facing our state and nation. She also noted her commitment, along with the other prosecutors in the State of Minnesota, to hold those accountable who sell controlled substances resulting in death.
More: Woman convicted of third-degree murder in St. Cloud man’s overdose
Burrell was charged in December 2016 for selling fentanyl to Dustin Peltier of St. Cloud who thought he was buying heroin and later died using the drugs.
Peltier was a former Marine from North Dakota who was in St. Cloud to get treatment at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System. The Sherburne County Attorney’s office said he suffered from PTSD.
Officers found Peltier in April 2016 unconscious on the floor of a residence in the 1900 block of 27th Street Southeast. A needle with white powder was on the kitchen counter. Toxicology results showed a level of fentanyl “associated with toxicity,” according to the criminal complaint charging Burrell.
Burrell is serving her sentences at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee. She waived her right to a jury trial and chose to have a court trial that occurred Feb. 13-14.
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© 2018 the St. Cloud Times (St. Cloud, Minn.)
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