TEXARKANA, Texas -- Two men accused in the near-fatal fentanyl overdose last year of a Texarkana woman pleaded not guilty Monday morning at separate hearings in Bowie County.
Conner Douglas Morgan, 22, appeared with Texarkana lawyer Butch Dunbar for arraignment Monday on a charge of possession of a controlled substance, fentanyl, with intent to deliver causing serious bodily injury or death before 5th District Judge Bill Miller. Johnathan Allen Murray, 34, appeared for arraignment with Waxahachie, Texas, lawyer Janet Traylor later in the morning.
Both men entered pleas of not guilty.
Miller scheduled Morgan's case for trial in January 2023 and Murray's for February 2023.
At the time of his arrest in December, Morgan was free on bond in a robbery case. He had pleaded guilty to that charge and was awaiting sentencing with a plea arrangement including a term of probation. After his arrest on the new charge, Miller rejected the pending plea bargain for probation and allowed Morgan to withdraw his guilty plea.
Morgan's bail in the drug case is set at $75,000 though he will not be released if he posts bond because he is being held without bail in the robbery case.
Murray's bail is set at $250,000.
Morgan and Murray face two to 10 years in prison if convicted of possession of a controlled substance, fentanyl, with intent to deliver causing serious bodily injury or death. Morgan faces two to 20 years in the robbery case.
Murray sold five or six pills to Morgan on the afternoon of Dec. 19, according to a probable cause affidavit. Morgan allegedly was accompanied by an 18-year-old woman when he met Murray that day in the parking lot of a grocery store on Summerhill Road in Texarkana, Texas. Morgan allegedly sold three blue pills stamped M30 to the woman for $30 apiece.
Later Dec. 19, the woman was found unresponsive in her bedroom by her mother. When the woman's breathing stopped, her mother performed CPR until first responders arrived.
The woman reportedly told TTPD Investigator Colten Johnson that she was informed by hospital staff that she would not have survived if she had not been found by her mother and given emergency medical attention.
The woman allegedly reported that she ingested the drug while sitting in Morgan's car outside her home in Texarkana, Texas.
Two blue pills and another half of a blue pill stamped with M30 allegedly were found in the woman's bedroom by her mother after the overdose and given to Texarkana Texas Police Department officers.
Prescription oxycodone pills are blue and stamped with M30. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, four of every 10 fentanyl-laced counterfeit prescription pills contain a potentially lethal dose.
Morgan and Murray are being held in the Bowie County jail.