photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Benjamin L. Mims appears at a hearing on April 25, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

A jury was sworn in Monday in Douglas County District Court to decide the case of a man accused in the fentanyl overdose death of a Lawrence teenager four years ago.

The defendant, Benjamin Lerell Mims, 37, is facing charges of distributing a controlled substance causing the death of 18-year-old Mohamadi Thompson Issa Jr.; conspiracy to unlawfully distribute the controlled substance fentanyl; and unlawful distribution of fentanyl.

Issa, who played football at both Lawrence high schools and loved music and collecting sneakers, according to his obituary, died Aug. 28, 2021, in the 3300 block of Westridge Court after overdosing on fentanyl.

The case is unusual in that Mims had previously admitted guilt in Issa’s death, entering a guilty plea last May to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and unlawful distribution of fentanyl, but he was allowed to withdraw that plea nearly a year later after it came to light that both the state and Mims’ defense attorney — the current DA of Douglas County, Dakota Loomis — had misunderstood Mims’ criminal history.

The plea they worked out contemplated that Mims would spend between six and eight years in prison for Issa’s death based on a mid-range number of prior convictions. However, it turned out that Mims actually had not a mid-range criminal history score but the highest score possible under sentencing guidelines and would actually have faced about 20 years in prison under state law. The higher score appeared to be due to multiple juvenile convictions for aggravated robbery.

Because Mims entered the guilty plea not understanding the consequences, Judge Amy Hanley allowed him to withdraw the plea. The state, represented by Deputy DA David Greenwald, then filed an amended complaint that mirrored the original, more serious, complaint, for which Mims will stand trial starting Tuesday in front of nine men and six women (three of the 15 being alternate jurors).

Mims, who is now represented by public defender Jessica Glendening, is alleged to have provided Logan Hastie Morgan, 25, with the fentanyl that killed Issa. Morgan, who is expected to testify against Mims this week, has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for his own role in Issa’s death.

Morgan pleaded no contest in February 2023 to one count of attempted distribution of a controlled substance causing death; as part of that plea, other charges against Morgan were dropped, and he testified against his codefendant, Mims, leading to the lighter sentence for himself.

Morgan also gave evidence in 2023 against Lawrence drug dealer Chloe Colby, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fentanyl death of 21-year-old Kendall Royce Stiffler.

Glendening and Greenwald are scheduled to give opening arguments on Tuesday morning. On Monday afternoon Glendening spent considerable time questioning the potential jurors about how they would determine accountability in a scenario where multiple people could potentially be at fault.