Man convicted of homicide

EPHRATA —  A jury found a 30-year-old Moses Lake man guilty of giving a man methadone, leading to his death.

Corey Christman was convicted of a controlled substances homicide by a jury.

Christman gave a 19-year-old Moses Lake man nine methadone pills during a September 2008 party at the Moses Lake sand dunes.

The victim went to a party at the sand dunes in early September with several other people. When he got there Christman provided him methadone three times, giving him the pills twice and directing him to the shirt pocket where the pills were stored once, according to a Grant County Sheriff’s report. The man received the pills from his mother to help with back pain.

Witnesses told police the man also drank alcohol, and may have consumed other drugs at the parties. When the group headed to a residence, the victim started having small seizures, but didn’t want to go to a hospital.

While the group of people discussed calling 9-1-1, a witness stated they were too scared. Two of the people led the man to their house and let him sleep in their carport.

The next morning people found the victim struggling to breathe and his face was blue. They called 9-1-1. The victim was transported from the scene to Samaritan Hospital and then transferred to Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane. He died two days later, according to the police report.

The Spokane Medical Examiner’s Office found the victim died because of a “use of methadone, methamphetamine and alcohol.”