Man sentenced for controlled substances homicide

EPHRATA — A Moses Lake man was sentenced in Grant County Superior Court for giving a man the drugs he overdosed on.

Corey Christman, 30, was convicted of controlled substances homicide during a trial earlier this month.

Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz sentenced Christman to five years and one month in prison, as recommended by deputy prosecutor Albert Lin.

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 pills belonged to his stepmother to help her 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.”