by April Scheinoha
Reporter
A St. Hilaire man pled guilty Wednesday, Dec. 28 in Pennington County District Court to supplying the fentanyl mixture that led to his fiancée’s death Dec. 2, 2021.
Anthony Joseph Drury, 31, pled guilty to felony third degree murder – sell/give/distribute a Schedules 1 & 2 controlled substance. At sentencing, a felony charge of fourth degree sale of a controlled substance of a Schedule 1, 2 or 3 drug is expected to be dismissed.
Crying during his court appearance, Drury admitted that he and Michaela Rose Constance Cooper pooled together their money for the fentanyl mixture that would eventually take her life. He purchased it from James Michael Morin and then picked up Cooper. The two of them consumed some of the fentanyl together on their way home. After returning home, Drury took another fentanyl pill and then napped. He said he awoke one-and-a-half hours later to find Cooper, 20, slumped over. Drury initially thought his fiancée was sleeping and then realized she had no pulse. He then began CPR.
According to the complaint, Drury told authorities that he had Narcan, but he didn’t know how to administer it. After law enforcement and EMTs arrived, CPR and two doses of Narcan were administered. The efforts to save her life were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Drury fully cooperated with law enforcement. During court Wednesday, he said, “In my eyes, I don’t want to see anybody else die from this same shit.”
Judge Tamara Yon ordered a pre-sentence investigation. Sentencing has been set for Friday, Feb. 17. Before she and others could exit the Zoom court hearing, a female voice could be heard saying, “Murderer!” Yon then informed the female that she would then be removed from the courtroom.
Morin, 24, Thief River Falls, was sentenced in August for his role in the incident. He entered a Norgaard plea, testifying that he couldn’t recall some or all of the facts of the case since he was under the influence of a chemical at the time. Morin was sentenced to 110 months in prison for a felony charge of third degree murder. He was given credit for 263 days served.
Charges
Drury told authorities that he had obtained the drugs from Morin, whose home was later searched. Inside Morin’s home and on his person, law enforcement found 39 pills similar to the fentanyl-laced pills the couple possessed. In his initial statement, Morin denied selling pills to Drury. Days later, in a followup statement, he admitted selling pills to Drury. Both men admitted knowing the pills were laced with fentanyl.
Back at the Drury and Cooper’s St. Hilaire home, law enforcement recovered half of a blue pill known to be laced with fentanyl as well as four oxycodone pills. They also confiscated tin foil with burn marks and a pen with its contents removed. Both of those items are consistent with drug usage.
Drury had recently proposed to Cooper. He said the couple had been sober for 10 days, but they relapsed that day. He said their drug of choice is usually opiates.
In a statement to Pine to Prairie Drug Task Force officers the following week, Drury said he purchased pills from Morin one to two times per week. He said he purchased two pills from Morin for $120 on Dec. 1. Neither he nor Cooper became sick after snorting the pills.
The following day, Drury purchased an additional five pills for $250 from Morin outside of Holiday. Of that amount, he and a friend contributed $100 each. Cooper contributed $60. The remaining $10 was gas money. At some point after the drug sale, he picked up Cooper. Two pills were dropped off for the friend, and Drury kept the remaining three pills. Upon returning home, the couple smoked a pill by heating it up on tinfoil.
Drury provided different information to law enforcement initially, saying he had purchased four pills from Morin for $200. He said Morin loaned him part of the money needed for the pills. At that time, Drury said he and Cooper used three pills with Cooper apparently consuming the fourth pill after Drury had fallen asleep. Half a pill had been found at the home.
Drury described the pills, which seemed to be similar to the ones found in Morin’s possession. When they arranged the purchase, Drury said he didn’t know what Morin would be providing.