The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said Friday that recent murder convictions of a man and woman in a teen's drug overdose death is a win for criminal justice.
A jury Thursday convicted Alvin Laurant of second degree murder for the 15-year-old's death.
Felisia Grantham was convicted in the crime in December.
Authorities say that in July 2022, Graham, her 17-year-old daughter, and the 15-year-old met with Laurant, and Grantham bought fentanyl pills from him. The three returned to Grantham's residence where they took the drugs, and not long after, they noticed the 15-year-old had turned purple and was no longer breathing. Responding medical personnel pronounced her dead.
The coroner ruled the cause of death to be fentanyl toxicity.
"I applaud the work of the detectives in our Major Crimes Division who worked tirelessly to track down the source of the drugs who killed this local teen and to gather the evidence needed to secure an arrest and a ultimate conviction of the persons responsible," said Sheriff Randy Smith in a post on the sheriff's office social media. "Drug dealers and their accomplices CAN and WILL be charged with murder if the drugs they provide results in someone's death."
