Tarrant County prosecutors announce first murder conviction in fentanyl overdose case

Tarrant County prosecutors have announced their first conviction a new state law which 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 Prosecutor’s Office.

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

KERA has contacted both the district attorney’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 murder our citizens behind bars,” he wrote.

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

Tarrant County prosecutors also filed a murder case Kami Ludwig35, following the overdose death of former Tarrant County Judge William Shane Nolen. A grand jury did not indict Ludwig, meaning they decided she should not be prosecuted.

These cases are part of Tarrant County’s commitment to seeking the toughest sentences in drug cases. The Public Prosecution Service was established last year a new narcotics unit 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 narcotics distributors.

“If you’re talking about a friend giving a pill to a girlfriend, that’s probably not a case that would lend itself to a murder charge,” he said.

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

It’s unclear how many people statewide have been convicted under the new fentanyl homicide law so far.

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 fentanyl murder law of 2023 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 Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, arguing that the evidence presented at trial was not sufficient to prove that the delivery of fentanyl “is objectively an act that is clearly dangerous is for human life.”

“Diaz is not mentioned in the messages to purchase the fentanyl, it was not discussed during the transaction and it was never disclosed to Jasinto,” Jimenez’s attorney wrote in his appeal. “There is no basis for the jury to conclude that Jasinto would have known that fentanyl would later be distributed to him or anyone else.”

Wichita County prosecutors rejected that argument in a subsequent filing.

“He committed a patently dangerous act by selling and delivering illegal fentanyl, a deadly poison, while knowing it was fatally dangerous and expecting it to be consumed,” they wrote.

Jimenez’s appeal is pending.

Other counties in the state are prosecuting fentanyl homicide cases, including Denton, Harris and Montgomery counties.

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

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