Duluth woman sentenced to 10 years in Rice Lake man's overdose death

Apr. 13—A Duluth woman was sentenced Monday to more than 10 years in prison for her role in providing a fatal dose of fentanyl to a Rice Lake man in 2017.

Joanne Rose Smith, 47, pleaded guilty in State District Court in February to a third-degree murder charge in the death of 33-year-old Samuel James O'Leary.

Under the terms of a plea agreement with the St. Louis County Attorney's Office, Smith was sentenced to a guideline term of 125 months in prison. Judge David Johnson also imposed a concurrent term of 95 months for a second case, in which Smith admitted to selling heroin while the murder charge was pending.

Smith was one of two people charged in O'Leary's death after an investigation by the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office and Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force. Co-defendant Deshaun Clay Robinson, 22, is facing an identical charge.

According to court documents, sheriff's deputies found O'Leary unresponsive inside a Rice Lake residence Dec. 4, 2017. An autopsy determined that his death was the result of an overdose of fentanyl, a highly potent opioid that is often added to heroin.

In a search of O'Leary's cellphone, investigators found Facebook messages exchanged by the victim and Smith beginning Dec. 3, 2017, in which arrangements were made for the two to meet for a heroin purchase, according to the criminal complaint.

Further investigation revealed Smith and O'Leary picked up the substances on the 600 block of West Superior Street in Duluth.

O'Leary's phone had been used to place a call with a number affiliated with Robinson and Lashante Griggs. Video surveillance footage from Griggs' apartment building showed Robinson entering the lobby and "engaging in a hand-to-hand exchange with Smith," the complaint states. Smith then returned to O'Leary's vehicle.

On Dec. 5, 2017, investigators executed search warrants on Robinson and Griggs, as well as the apartment. An investigator found two baggies of "suspected heroin laced with (fentanyl)" on Griggs, and her phone included messages leading up to the exchange with O'Leary, which authorities said indicated a sale of controlled substances.

In an interview, Robinson allegedly admitted Griggs had his phone — the one containing the messages with O'Leary. In another interview, Smith said she had arranged the purchase through Griggs, with Robinson delivering the drugs.

Smith was formally charged with murder by the St. Louis County Attorney's Office on Nov. 14, 2018. At the time, she already had three prior convictions in Minnesota for third-degree sale of a controlled substance.

Smith was out of jail on pretrial supervision when she was arrested last October as part of a bust described by local authorities as the largest dismantling of a drug-trafficking organization in the region's history. At least 50 people were charged in the operation that spanned the Upper Midwest.

Along with the murder charge, Smith pleaded guilty to a felony count of second-degree sale of three or more grams of heroin for her role in that case.

Smith, who appeared from the St. Louis County Jail by video for sentencing Monday, declined an opportunity to address the court, as did members of O'Leary's family. Prosecutor Kristen Swanson and public defender J.D. Schmid simply urged the court to accept the plea agreement, refraining from further comment at the hearing that took less than five minutes.

Smith must serve at least two-thirds of her prison term, roughly seven years, before she will be eligible for supervised release.

Robinson, who was arrested in connection with O'Leary's death in December 2019, is now living in California. He is scheduled to appear for a plea hearing Monday, April 19.

Under Minnesota law, a person is guilty of third-degree murder if he or she unintentionally causes another's death by "unlawfully selling, giving away, bartering, delivering, exchanging, distributing or administering" a Schedule I or II controlled substance.

Police and prosecutors in the Northland and across the country in recent years have increasingly turned to homicide statutes in an effort to crack down on the illegal drug trade in response to the opioid epidemic.

The tactic is not without controversy, as defense attorneys and academics have said such prosecutions have little to no deterrent effect and frequently serve to punish people struggling with addiction.