The homicide charge against a Janesville man is in question as his lawyers argue whether he delivered the drugs that led to another man’s overdose death.
Attorneys for 25-year-old Ashante Byrd filed a motion to dismiss the charge after his preliminary hearing Monday in Rock County Court.
Janesville police detective Thomas Bechen testified that Byrd and 21-year-old Tarron Turner went together to purchase heroin from a dealer last December.
Police believe Turner provided the money and Byrd connected him with the dealer and snorted the drugs with him.
Turner overdosed and died early the next morning, and Bechen said Byrd then moved his body into a vehicle and left the car in the parking lot of an apartment building on Milton Avenue.
The argument is whether the state has enough evidence to show Byrd delivered the drug and that Turner died as a result of that drug use.
Court Commissioner Jack Hoag found probable cause to bind over Byrd’s case for trial, but Judge John Wood will rule on the motion to dismiss at a later date.
