photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Daniele Francesco Leone

A man pleaded guilty to manslaughter Wednesday in Douglas County District Court in connection with a Lawrence man’s 2021 fentanyl death.

The man, Daniele Francesco Leone, 33, of Kansas City, Missouri, originally faced one felony count of distribution of a controlled substance causing death but pleaded guilty to the lesser count of felony voluntary manslaughter and one felony count of distribution of fentanyl as part of a plea agreement with the state.

The charge is in connection with the fentanyl overdose death of Nickolas Joseph Byrum, 32, who died on March 15, 2021. According to his obituary, Byrum was a father of four. Emergency crews were called around 9 a.m. to the 1100 block of East 13th Street, where Byrum was found deceased.

Leone was charged in the case after codefendant Abby Gail Burton, 30, of Norborne, Missouri, pleaded guilty to possession of heroin as part of a plea deal and agreed to testify against Leone. Burton was also originally charged with causing Byrum’s death. She was sentenced to 13 months in prison, which Judge Amy Hanley suspended to 12 months of probation in August of 2022, as the Journal-World reported.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Abby Gail Burton

The distribution causing death charge is a level-one felony, the most severe charge available on the Kansas sentencing guidelines, and the minimum penalty for the charge is 147 months, or over 12 years, in prison for someone with no criminal history. The voluntary manslaughter charge that Leone pleaded to is a level-three felony, which lowered the minimum potential sentence to 55 months, or less than five years in prison.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Tatum said the state believes Leone has a minimal criminal history that would affect his sentence and that the state recommended 71 months for the manslaughter charge and 16 months for the distribution charge for a total of 87 months, or 7.25 years.

Tatum said Leone would also be required to register as a violent offender for 15 years after his release from prison. She said the plea agreement did not allow for Leone’s attorney, John Kerns, to file for a motion for a reduced sentence or probation in lieu of prison.

Tatum said that if the case had gone to trial the state would have presented evidence that Byrum died after taking heroin laced with fentanyl that he acquired from Leone. She said a police investigation showed that Byrum and his girlfriend, Burton, regularly purchased drugs from Leone and had paid Leone $170 via Paypal the day before Byrum’s death and that Burton had taken a taxi service to the Kansas City area to retrieve the drugs from Leone at a hotel.

The voluntary manslaughter charge involves a bit of “legal fiction” as the charge in Kansas law usually involves a quarrel or a crime of passion, Tatum said, but Senior Assistant District Attorney David Greenwald and defense attorney Kerns had agreed upon the charge in their plea negotiations.

According to an affidavit in support of Burton’s arrest, Byrum’s phone records show the last messages he sent to Burton and Leone around 9:30 the night before Byrum’s death. Byrum messaged Burton “Did I pass out instantly,” then he messaged Leone “Holy (expletive). This is fire AF. Is this a new plug?” to which Leone replied “yea I told.” Byrum was declared deceased less than 12 hours later when emergency crews arrived around 9 a.m.

Judge Stacey Donovan accepted Leone’s guilty plea and scheduled him to be sentenced on Oct. 10. Leone has been in custody at the Douglas County Jail since his arrest in January and is being held on a $75,000 bond.

Editor’s note: This story has been edited to reflect Leone’s correct age.