BG woman sentenced for 2021 drug death

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A Bowling Green woman has been sentenced to prison for her part in a drug death in 2021.

Deanna Mason, 41, appeared Tuesday in the courtroom of Wood County Common Pleas Judge Matt Reger.

A jury in January found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs and trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound.

The charges stem for Mason’s actions on Aug. 8, 2021, which caused the death of Tammy Sue Amos, of North Baltimore. Mason was accused of providing Amos with para-flourofentanyl and fentanyl.

Amos was 44 years old when she died.

“On Aug. 8 … the world lost a beautiful soul,” said Amos’ daughter, Justine Dewyer. “We all lost so much that day.”

She said sentencing Mason to prison will keep her alive and not playing Russian roulette while looking for her next high.

Defense attorney Drew Griffith said that during the trial, the court was made aware of his client’s addiction issues and the important people in her life that contributed to her downfall.

He said he has read a lot of pre-sentence investigation and found Mason’s “succinct” and “profound.”

“She understands what she did was wrong,” he said.

She thought she was aiding a friend in the throes of drug addiction and is a recovering addict herself, Griffith said.

“The people she chose to have in her everyday life attributed to her challenges,” he said.

Mason’s family was in the courtroom for support, he said.

Griffith asked for a two-year sentence for the corruption charge with all sentences to run concurrently.

Wood County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Lara Rump requested the three charges merge and Mason be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter.

Reger granted that request.

Every day she is remains in jail is another day her family is guaranteed to know she is alive, Dewyer said about Mason.

Rump said Mason sold fentanyl to the victim, and although she has said there were other people involved, there were only two DNA samples on the baggie: hers and Amos’.

Mason said she was friends with the victim but selling drugs to an addict “is not something a friend would do,” Rump said.

She asked for a sentence of six years.

Mason said she was “profoundly sorry” for her actions, and while life doesn’t give us do overs, if it did, she would do that day differently.

“I do believe you wish Aug. 8 had turned out differently,” Reger said.

But that wasn’t the date when decisions were made, that happened years before, he said.

While it may seem like you’re helping a friend by giving them drugs, “it’s like giving someone a gun who wants to hurt themselves,” Reger said.

There is no sentence that will bring back a mom or assuage your guilt, he said to the defendant.

Reger imposed a minimum sentence of six years with an indefinite term of nine years.

Mason also must pay $3,525 to the deceased’s family to cover funeral expenses.

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