photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

William Martin Byrd is pictured at a hearing on Aug. 18, 2023, in Douglas County District Court.

A 40-year-old felon who was accused in a Lawrence woman’s fentanyl death in 2022 is back in jail this week facing a new felony drug charge along with several misdemeanors.

William Martin Byrd, of Lawrence, was arrested late Wednesday morning at his home and charged the next day with possession of methamphetamine, two misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and one misdemeanor count of criminal damage to property. The damaged property is listed in the charging document as a door belonging to the woman he is alleged to have battered.

Byrd was sentenced in January 2024 to just under two years in connection with the April 14, 2022, death of 23-year-old Angelyca Cowdin. He was originally charged with distribution of a controlled substance leading to death, but, in a deal with the state, he pleaded no contest in October 2022 to a single count of distribution of fentanyl under 3.5 grams. As part of that deal, Byrd agreed to testify “about the circumstances surrounding Angelyca Cowdin’s death” in the case against the other defendant, Mason Duane Robinson, who was eventually sentenced to 49 months.

Both men were ordered to register as drug offenders for 15 years.

Byrd’s case was delayed so long by a series of continuances that by the time he received his 23-month prison sentence in January of 2024 he had already served 19 months of it in the Douglas County Jail waiting for his case to move forward.

Byrd, who was released from KDOC supervision less than two months ago, was also convicted of felony drug possession in November 2018.

As of Friday he was being held on a $5,000 bond and is next scheduled to appear in court on April 1.