photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Timothy Edward Thompson, 44, of Lawrence in Douglas County District Court on Thursday.

A Lawrence man previously charged with distribution of heroin causing a death pleaded no contest on Thursday to three lower-level felony drug charges as part of a plea agreement.

Timothy Edward Thompson, 44, had originally been charged in Douglas County District Court with one felony count of distribution of heroin causing a death and seven lower-level drug charges in separate incidents. On Thursday, he pleaded no contest instead to felony distribution of heroin and two counts of felony distribution of fentanyl, and the remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

The original charge of distribution causing a death was in connection with the death of Blossom Faye Kyle, 25, of Lawrence, who was found unresponsive by her boyfriend on Aug. 26, 2018. She was declared dead at the scene, and the autopsy report later said she died of a heroin overdose.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Eve Kemple told the court that the two fentanyl counts stemmed from two separate events in January 2025, in which undercover officers allegedly purchased fentanyl from Thompson.

Judge Amy Hanley accepted Thompson’s plea, but is not obligated to follow the recommendations of the plea agreement at sentencing. Hanley said the state and defense attorney Angela Keck had agreed to recommend a total sentence of 86 months, or just over seven years, in prison, but that sentence would be with the two fentanyl counts running concurrently. Hanley said she had discretion to make Thompson serve those sentences consecutively instead, which could result in his serving up to an additional 16 months.

Thompson had previously rejected a plea deal offered to him in October 2023. In that agreement, if Thompson had pleaded guilty or no contest to one count of voluntary manslaughter and one count of distribution of heroin, the state would have recommended a total of 87 months in prison.

Hanley scheduled Thompson’s sentencing hearing for 1:30 p.m. March 27.

Another person has also been convicted in connection with Kyle’s death: Jessica Leigh Silkiner Gallardo. She was originally charged with one felony count of distribution of heroin causing death, and ultimately pleaded guilty to two lower-level counts of unlawful distribution of less than one gram of heroin. She was sentenced to 45 months in prison in January, as the Journal-World reported.