photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Abby Gail Burton

A Missouri woman who was charged in connection with a fentanyl overdose death in Lawrence was sentenced Friday to probation after entering a plea agreement in Douglas County District Court.

Judge Amy Hanley sentenced the woman, Abby Gail Burton, 29, of Norborne, Missouri, to 13 months in prison, then suspended the sentence to 12 months of probation, according to court records. Burton was convicted in May after pleading guilty to possession of heroin, a level-five drug felony, which is the lowest level on the sentencing guidelines grid.

She was originally charged with distribution of a controlled substance causing death, a level-one person felony that carries a minimum sentence of more than 12 years for someone with no criminal history.

The charge stems from an incident on March 15, 2021. Charging documents alleged that Burton had distributed a substance that resulted in death, and the primary witness on the document was Nickolas Byrum.

A Nickolas Joseph Byrum, 32, of Lawrence, died of an overdose from a combination of fentanyl and morphine on March 15, 2021, according to an autopsy report from the Douglas County Coroner’s Office. According to his obituary, Byrum was a father of four.

The autopsy report filed by Senior Associate Medical Examiner Feng Li said Byrum was “found unresponsive on March 15, 2021. EMS was called and he was pronounced shortly after their arrival.” Li performed the autopsy the next day and reported that “the cause of death is acute combined drug intoxication (including) fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, and morphine.”

Records indicate that Burton was first charged in June of 2021 but wasn’t arrested until November. She was arrested in Jackson County, Missouri, then transferred to the Douglas County Jail. She was in custody until March 1, 2022, when she was released on a $25,000 own-recognizance bond, but she failed to appear at a hearing a week later, and her bond was revoked and a warrant was issued. She was apprehended by Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies in De Soto on March 31. She was released again after entering a guilty plea on May 4.

Burton’s defense attorney, Hatem Chahine, negotiated the plea agreement with Senior Assistant District Attorney David Greenwald. The agreement lowered the charge after Burton underwent inpatient treatment, according to court records. She was awarded 121 days of time served toward her prison sentence if she fails to complete her probation.