Robert T. Lusk sits in between attorneys Thomas Keehan, on his right, and Erik Kupka, not pictured, in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – His lawyer assured the judge his client has taken full responsibility for his actions, for providing the heroin to 23-year-old Tyson J. Anderson who died of an overdose.
“Mr. Lusk learned something very important,” Defense attorney Erik Kupka said. “He lost a friend; he lost a companion.”
Anderson died April 22, 2013 at a Centralia apartment where he was staying with his girlfriend. She called 911 when she awoke after the two shared drugs, and found him unconscious, according to court papers. Arriving medics could not save him.
Robert T. Lusk, now 37, was arrested and charged last summer with controlled substance homicide. The Chehalis man pleaded guilty two weeks ago.
Even though attorneys on the two sides agreed about how much time he should spend in prison, they went into detail to Judge James Lawler about their recommendation yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.
Kupka told the judge he’d learned some about the heroin drug culture.
“People help each other in this culture, they help each other with their addictions,” he said.
When asked if he’d like to speak on his own behalf, Lusk stood and addressed the judge.
Nobody was supposed to get hurt, he said.
“It’s hard to explain how bad I hate heroin now,” Lusk said. “It’s tragic.”
The offense doesn’t include any elements of maliciousness or intent for a person to die. Only that one delivered the heroin to a person, that the person used the heroin and the person died from the heroin.
While the maximum penalty is 10 years, Lusk faced a standard sentencing range, given his criminal history, of 68 to 100 months of incarceration.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead indicated to the judge the lawyers believed the low end of the range was appropriate, because the same range also applied to individuals with more significant criminal backgrounds.
Lawler, when he prepared to decide the sentence, explained what that meant to persons in the audience. Present were Lusk’s parents, but not Anderson’s parents.
The judge said he knew the attorneys worked to make a deal for both sides.
“I will respect that process and follow the agreed recommendation,” Lawler said.
Lusk was given the five years and eight months, with credit for the more than nine months he has been held in the Lewis County Jail since his arrest.
For the deal, a charge of delivery of heroin related to the same incident was dropped, a charge Halstead said would have been “folded in” anyhow.
He was also given 364 days, with 70 of them suspended, for first-degree driving with a suspended license, to be served concurrently.
•••
For background, read “Heroin overdose for one leads to prison for another” from Thursday March 19, 2015, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Idgas there is no justice in this. How can anybody call this a homicide let alone a murder? Lets get real whether you are an addict, a one time experimenter, a drug dealer or a clean and sober part of the community this is nothing more then suicide by choice. I doubt Mr. Lusk said “here Tyson kill yourself” even then its merely assisted suicide…..Tyson Anderson was an IV user, he and his girlfriend sought to feed their addictions. With every high they knew that there was possibility of life threatening consequence possibly death. He and his girlfriend both injected heroin she bumped her head and woke to find him dead. And she isnt in jail? She even thought far enough ahead to hide the remainder of the heroin before the cops came. Wow! Way to go lewis county. Shes probably somewhere right now injecting someone else. Disgusting and how embarrassing lewis county would waste the taxpayers money on the jailing of a person that may not be innocent in some areas of the law but certainly is not responsible for the death of an addict who willingly chose to stick a needle in his arm and was fully aware what waited on the other side.
Correct!
I’m confused… If Lusk was simply sharing what he had, as he stated, but was arrested because Anderson died, then how come the female who was also sharing with him, the one who woke to find him dead, also hasn’t been arrested on the same charges? Yes, Lusk may have given him the drugs, but I wonder if he had been in the room, as the girl had been, would he have still been charged since they were all sharing?
In my opinion, this is a bullshit charge. Lusk shouldn’t be doing any time for someone else’s addiction… obviously if they all shared the same drug batch, Anderson simply used too much, or else both Lusk and the girl would also be dead. A stupid mistake by a junky where no blame should be made except to the one who chose to stick the needle in his arm…