The attorney for a Columbia County man accused of murder in a fatal overdose is asking for the indictment to be dismissed.
A Columbia County grand jury returned a murder indictment Feb. 3 against Colin Magill that accuses him of murder in the July 19, 2020 death of 28-year-old Alex King. The indictment specifically accuses Magill, 30, of committing felony murder for allegedly causing King’s death during the distribution of illegal drugs, in this case fentanyl.
According to the prosecutors’ statement at early court proceedings, Magill sold King four fentanyl pills less than an hour before King and another man were found unconscious in the front yard of a Martinez home.
The second man survived with the administration of Narcan, but King died. He reportedly had 28 milligrams of fentanyl in his system. The Drug Enforcement Administration contends two milligrams can be a fatal dose. Fentanyl, 100 times stronger than morphine, is legitimately prescribed for severe pain such as that experienced by patients after surgery.
Magill’s attorney Richard Goolsby Sr. filed several motions last month on Magill’s behalf, including a motion for the indictment to be dismissed. According to the evidence Goolsby has seen so far in the case, Magill allegedly sold King four fentanyl pills and a little marijuana the day he died, but four pills and marijuana were found in King’s truck.
“Logically they (King and his friend) must have consumed pills obtained at some other time and from somebody else and somewhere else,” Goolsby wrote.
King’s friend who was with him that day told investigators he has no memory of the afternoon, according to the defense motion.
Defense motions were also filed asking the judge to reconsider bond, Judge Sheryl B. Jolly denied bond Feb. 28 and asked for court proceedings to be moved outside of Columbia County.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
