Superior man sentenced to prison for fatal fentanyl sale
Mar. 29—SUPERIOR — A Superior man who provided a fatal dose of fentanyl to a St. Louis County man in 2020 was sentenced in Douglas County Circuit Court on Friday, March 25.
Colton James Lurye, 28, pleaded no contest to one count of first-degree reckless homicide on Feb. 11. Douglas County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Thimm sentenced Lurye to four years of initial confinement and five years of extended supervision, with credit for the year he has already spent in jail. He was ordered to pay a $500 fine and court costs.
Lurye sold pills which appeared to be Oxycodone but tested positive for fentanyl to the victim and his girlfriend, according to the criminal complaint. The victim died later that night after taking the pills. According to the autopsy, the cause of death was fentanyl toxicity.
Lurye received the pills from an Esko man, Luke John Hansmeyer, who served as the middle man for an out-of-state supplier. Hansmeyer, 36, also pleaded no contest to first-degree reckless homicide and was sentenced earlier this month to five years in prison and six years of extended supervision.
The sentence imposed on Lurye was jointly recommended by Douglas County District Attorney Mark Fruehauf and defense attorney Lance Nelson. One of the mitigating circumstances they took into account was Lurye's cooperation with law enforcement. He provided verifiable information about the sales and performed three controlled buys for cocaine on Hansmeyer, resulting in his arrest.
Another circumstance taken into account in both cases was the fact that neither Lurye nor Hansmeyer appeared to know they were selling fentanyl.
"This writer would look at this case far differently if the evidence showed the defendant to be involved in knowingly selling disguised fentanyl pills," Fruehauf wrote.
