Hastings man sentenced to 9 years in prison for woman's drug overdose death
A 42-year-old Hastings man has been sentenced to 9.5 years in prison after he provided the heroin to a woman that caused her to overdose and die.
Jason Michael Slattum was sentenced Wednesday in Dakota County District Court after being convicted of third-degree murder in the death of 50-year-old Michelle Cahill, of Hastings, on July 11, 2020.
Slattum pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in October 2021.
According to the criminal complaint, police responded to Cahill's apartment at 5:15 a.m. on July 11, 2020, for a medical emergency.
Cahill was on the floor next to the bed and attempts to revive her were unsuccessful. The medical examiner determined her death was accidental, caused by mixed drug toxicity of heroin, fentanyl and acetyle fentanyl, the complaint states.
While in the bedroom, police noticed a brown, powdery substance on a plate, which tested positive for fentanyl, charges said. Cahill's husband told police the drug was heroin and they'd bought it from Slattum on July 10.
Cahill's husband said they'd bought drugs from Slattum four or five times after the Cahills found him on Craigslist about six months prior, the complaint states.
