Teen died in fentanyl overdose before birthday, AL officials say. Boyfriend convicted
The boyfriend of a 15-year-old who died of a fentanyl overdose has now been convicted of charges in her death, Alabama prosecutors said.
Jackson Lewis, 19, was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office said in a Sept. 25 news release.
McClatchy News reached out to his attorney for comment Sept. 26 and did not immediately receive a response.
In August 2022, Adrianna Taylor was found unresponsive at a home in Semmes about three weeks shy of her 16th birthday, according to her family and prosecutors.
The responding deputy testified that he gave her Narcan and performed CPR, but Taylor couldn’t be revived, WPMI reported.
A third friend who was with them at the time also testified during the trial and said Lewis and Taylor took crushed up pills that Lewis had brought, according to WKRG. Lewis said he and Taylor passed out, then the friend woke him up and told him Taylor was unconscious, outlets reported.
“Both of them were in this together,” Lewis’ attorney Jeff Deen said at the trial, according to WALA. “Neither one of them knew that the pill had fentanyl in it. Otherwise, he’d be killing himself.”
A jury convicted Lewis of lesser charges as Taylor’s family sought justice for her, prosecutors said.
One of Taylor’s friends said she always had a smile on her face and was a “bottle of energy.” They had been talking about her upcoming birthday before she died.
“You always made me laugh or smile,” her friend shared on Facebook. “You never let me have one bad day.”
According to her obituary, Taylor attended Mary G. Montgomery High School and Azalea City Christian Church.
“Life hasn’t been the same, no late night FaceTimes or Waffle House runs or even a late sneak to the car to jam to music and laugh about life,” her sister Ashton Logan wrote in a Facebook tribute. “I’m so mad you are gone.”
Her sister said the 15-year-old “loved life so much.”
Lewis was charged in connection with Taylor’s death and was out of jail on bond when he again found himself at odds with law enforcement, according to WPMI. In April, deputies accused him of trying to sell drugs to one of his girlfriend’s classmates, WKRG and WPMI reported.
“My office will continue to try to have Jackson Lewis held fully accountable in his upcoming case for attempting to distribute a controlled substance to a different minor,” Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said.
Lewis is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 30.
Semmes is in southwest Alabama and is part of the Mobile metropolitan area.
This story was originally published September 26, 2024 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Teen died in fentanyl overdose before birthday, AL officials say. Boyfriend convicted."