photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

William Martin Byrd is pictured at a hearing on Aug. 18, 2023, in Douglas County District Court. Byrd was originally charged with distribution of a controlled substance causing death but pleaded to the lesser felony of distribution of fentanyl as part of a an agreement with the state where he agreed to testify against his co-defendant, Mason Robinson.

A Lawrence man who was originally charged in connection with a 23-year-old woman’s fentanyl overdose death was sentenced to 23 months in prison on Thursday in Douglas County District Court — 19 months of which he’s already served waiting for his case to proceed.

The man, William Martin Byrd, 38, pleaded no contest in October 2022 to one count of distribution of fentanyl under 3.5 grams, a nonperson drug felony, according to his plea agreement. He originally faced a far more serious charge, along with a co-defendant, of distribution of a controlled substance leading to death.

As part of his plea agreement, Byrd agreed to testify “about the circumstances surrounding Angelyca Cowdin’s death” in the state’s case against the other defendant, Mason Duane Robinson, 28, of Lawrence. Robinson is currently facing a charge of distribution of a controlled substance leading to death, but his case has been delayed multiple times; the most recent continuance happened on Monday after he tested positive for COVID.

The cases relate to an incident on April 14, 2022, when medical personnel were called to the 1900 block of Miller Drive. Cowdin, of Lawrence, was found unresponsive in the yard of her mother’s home, and emergency personnel pronounced her dead at the scene. An autopsy later revealed that she died from acute fentanyl intoxication, as the Journal-World previously reported.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid — originally developed for pain management in cancer patients — that is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and that often results in overdose deaths when used illicitly, according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. It is commonly added to other illegal drugs to increase their amounts and potency and to heighten addiction, and people often consume it unknowingly.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 71,238 people died in the U.S. in 2021 from fentanyl-related causes.

photo by: Contributed

Angel Cowdin, left, is pictured with her mother, Mary Cowdin.

During Thursday’s hearing, Senior Assistant District Attorney David Greenwald said he spoke to Cowdin’s mother prior to the sentencing and she did not want to attend. Greenwald then read a letter from Raven Wilson, who was Cowdin’s best friend.

In the letter, Wilson wrote that Byrd and Cowdin had an off-and-on relationship and that Byrd often manipulated Cowdin during that relationship. She called Byrd a “predator” and claimed that Byrd knew the pill he gave to Cowdin was laced with fentanyl. She also wrote that Cowdin did struggle with addiction but had started working to remove drug dealers and addicts from her life, and that Cowdin’s decision to take the pill that killed her was just a moment of weakness.

Byrd’s case was delayed numerous times after his plea because co-defendant Robinson wasn’t appearing for court hearings. Wilson spoke with the Journal-World after one continued hearing in March of 2023.

“It just sucks,” she said when asked about the continuances in the case. “It’s just been overwhelming waiting for justice.”

Wilson said at that time that she wasn’t surprised that Robinson was involved. She said “a dealer is going to do what a dealer is going to do, but (Byrd) was supposed to be her friend.”

After reading the letter on Thursday, Greenwald asked the court to follow the plea agreement and said that Byrd had been easy to work with in negotiations. Judge Sally Pokorny agreed to the terms and sentenced Byrd to 23 months. She said that the 569 days, or 18.9 months, he had spent in jail would count toward his sentence, and that he was eligible for a 20% good time credit. She said Byrd would also receive credit for time served in a misdemeanor battery case that he was on probation for; according to court records, that case took place in 2021 and the victim was Cowdin.

Byrd spoke briefly at Thursday’s hearing and apologized to Cowdin’s family. He said he planned to remain sober even after he had completed his sentence, and that he hoped to go into the Artists Helping the Homeless program to get his life back on track. Pokorny said she hoped Byrd would follow through.

Byrd was also convicted of felony drug possession in November 2018, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The next step in Robinson’s case will be a status conference on Jan. 10. In addition to the drug death case, he is charged with three counts of felony theft from three separate incidents, and Greenwald said Monday that the state had filed an additional fentanyl possession charge against him. He is currently free on a $100,000 own-recognizance bond, meaning he was not required to pay any money to be released from jail but may be charged that amount if he fails to appear in court.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Mason Duane Robinson is pictured during a hearing on April 6, 2023, in Douglas County District Court. Robinson is charged with distributing a controlled substance causing death in connection with the fentanyl overdose death of Angelyca Cowdin on April 14, 2022.