Tarrant County prosecutors announce first murder conviction in fentanyl overdose case

Tarrant County prosecutors announced her first conviction a new state law This allows them to charge people with murder for giving someone else a fatal dose of fentanyl.

Kaeden Farish, 19, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 19 years in prison for selling fentanyl pills to a 17-year-old who died of an overdose, according to the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office.

“We will continue to pursue those who seek to profit from this deadly drug. If you make them or give them to someone who dies, we will charge you with murder,” Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said in a news release.

KERA has reached out to both the DA's office and Farish's attorney with interview requests.

State Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, wrote the overdose murder law, called HB 6. He praised Sorrells in a post on X.

“We must put the people who are killing our citizens behind bars,” he wrote.

There is at least one other fentanyl murder charge pending in Tarrant County, according to court records. This is the case against it Jacob Linsday47, who allegedly gave 26-year-old Brandon Harrison the dose of fentanyl that killed him.

Tarrant County prosecutors have also opened a murder case against him Kami Ludwig35, following the overdose death of former Tarrant County Deputy Judge William Shane Nolen. A grand jury rejected Ludwig, meaning it decided she should not be prosecuted.

These cases are part of Tarrant County's effort to achieve the harshest sentences possible in drug cases. The DA’s office was created last year a new drug department to handle cases involving fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Ferry told KERA at the time that the unit would focus on major drug traffickers.

“If you're talking about a boyfriend giving a pill to a girlfriend, that's probably not a case suitable for a murder charge,” he said.

Critics of overdose homicide laws say they typically punish people who use drugs, not criminals say there is no evidence that increased law enforcement reduces the supply and demand for drugs.

It's unclear how many people nationwide have been convicted so far under the new fentanyl murder law.

Last year, Jasinto Jimenez of Wichita Falls was sentenced to 45 years in prison for selling the fentanyl that killed Andres Diaz. His murder case was filed in Wichita County in 2022, before the 2023 fentanyl murder law was passed.

According to court documents, Jimenez sold the pills to a woman who later gave one to Diaz.

Jimenez's attorney appealed his conviction to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, arguing that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to prove that administering fentanyl was “objectively a clearly dangerous act to human life.”

“Diaz is not mentioned in the communications regarding the purchase of fentanyl, he was not discussed during the transaction, and he was never disclosed to Jasinto,” Jimenez's attorney wrote in his appeal. “There is no reason for the jury to conclude that Jasinto knew that fentanyl would later be distributed to him or anyone else.”

Wichita County prosecutors rejected that argument in a later filing.

“He committed a clearly dangerous act by selling and delivering illegal fentanyl, a deadly poison, even though he knew it was deadly dangerous and expected it to be consumed,” they wrote.

Jimenez's appeal is pending.

Other counties across the state are prosecuting murder cases involving fentanyl, including Denton, Harris and Montgomery counties.

Do you have a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at [email protected]. You can follow Miranda on X @MirandaRSuarez.

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