Nashville Man Charged with Murder in Overdose Death of Wilson Co. Teen

LEBANON, TN (WSMV) - The Wilson County Grand Jury indicted a Nashville man for murder for providing drugs which resulted in the overdose death of a minor, according to a news release.

Antwan Jacques Whitehead, 28, was charged with murder for the distribution of drugs to a Wilson County teen in February.

A law passed in 2018 allows that those who sell, deliver or administer a drug containing fentanyl can be charged with second-degree murder if a person dies from the use of that drug.

“Overdoses are a tremendous problem in the communities of every district in Tennessee, including the 15th Judicial District. We are definitely interested in charging people who sell, deliver, or administer illegal drugs with murder if another person overdoses and dies from those drugs,” said Jason Lawson, the prosecutor on the case, in a news release.

“One of the true dangers of illegal drugs today is that a drug called fentanyl is being placed into a number of substances by criminals and sold as other drugs. Drug users believe that they are ingesting heroin, xanax, methamphetamine, cocaine, or pills - when in fact the substance they are putting into their bodies is fentanyl. Fentanyl is many times more powerful than the other drug, and people don’t realize the degree to which they are overdosing themselves,” said Lawson.

Fentanyl is a chemical that can be put into any form, a powder, a crystal, or even pressed into counterfeit pills.

Whitehead is being held on a $250,000 bond.

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https://www.wsmv.com/news/wilson_county/nashville-man-charged-with-murder-in-overdose-death-of-wilson/article_6399a434-bad9-11e9-9522-171c0f1fe03c.amp.html