Death by heroin case dismissed, but expected to be re-filed; similar case remains active

Murphy

By Allison Scarbrough. OCP Editor.

HART — The felony case against a 29-year-old Midland man accused of delivery of heroin causing death was dismissed but is expected to be re-filed, according to Oceana County Prosecutor Joseph Bizon.

A similar case against a 24-year-old man currently lodged in prison on an unrelated charge remains active.

Daniel Ryan Murphy’s case was dismissed without prejudice “as the investigative team and I felt there was evidence that needed further evaluation,” Bizon said. “It is our intention to re-file that case soon.”

It was alleged that Murphy delivered heroin to Jack Kinchen, 30, of Walkerville, who died Sept. 24, 2014 in Colfax Township.

A conviction of delivery of a controlled substance causing death is punishable by up to life in prison.

The case against Foster Lewis Mudget, who was arraigned last June on two counts of delivery of a controlled substance causing death, is scheduled for a preliminary exam Aug. 31 at 3 p.m.

Mudget
-MDOC photo

Heroin and fentanyl are listed in court records as the drugs that caused the death of Annette Conkle, 46, of Hart. The charges stem from Conkle’s death last October “who had overdosed and ultimately died as a result of the overdose,” a State, Sheriffs’, Chiefs’ Enforcement of Narcotics Team (SSCENT) press release stated.

“In the fall of 2014, members of the Hart City Police Department responded to an address in the 200 block of Dryden. On scene, they located the woman who had overdosed.”

According to the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS), Mudget is lodged in the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson County, serving a 13-month to five-year sentence for an organized retail crime act violation conviction in Muskegon County.