No Charges Filed in Prince Death Investigation
No charges will be filed following the two-year investigation into Prince’s death, it was announced today at a news conference in Chaska, Minnesota by Carver County Attorney Mark Metz. Metz announced that it had been determined that Prince died from taking counterfeit Vicodin, which he did not know contained the powerful opioid painkiller fentanyl. However, the investigation has not been able to determine how Prince obtained the counterfeit Vicodin, or who gave it to him. “The bottom line is we do not have sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime in relation to Prince's death,” Metz said.
Metz also announced that Dr. Michael Schulenberg, the doctor who Prince saw twice in the weeks before his death, agreed to pay $30,000 as part of the settlement of a federal civil violation, the Associated Press reports Federal prosecutors charged Schulenberg with violating the Controlled Substances Act for writing the name of Prince's assistant, Kirk Johnson, on a prescription for the painkiller Oxycodone, a week before Prince died. But Metz made clear that no criminal charges were being pursued against Schulenberg. “There have been no allegations made by the government that Dr. Schulenberg had any role in Prince’s death,” Metz said.
Prince was found dead on April 21, 2016, at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota. He was 57 years old. Six days before his death, he was hospitalized when his plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois. He received treatment for an overdose of Percocet, which contains Oxycodone. Prince died one day before a scheduled meeting with Dr. Howard Kornfeld, an opioid addiction specialist.
As The New York Times reports, even though the County investigation has concluded, a federal one could continue. A DEA agent from the Minneapolis district office is quoted by the Times as saying, “We’re always pursuing additional avenues.”
Find video of Metz's press conference below.
