Judge: Vassar man not responsible for girlfriend’s fatal overdose

CARO — Prosecutors plan to appeal a Tuscola County Circuit Court ruling that a Vassar man shouldn’t be held responsible for the fatal drug overdose of his girlfriend.

Tuscola County Circuit Court Judge Amy Grace Gierhart granted a motion to quash made by the attorney for Caleb Hills, 29, Vassar, who remains in jail on a $350,000 bond.

Prior to the ruling, Hills was charged with delivery of a controlled substance causing death. An autopsy report of Amanda Byrd, the death in the case, indicates she died of drug intoxication and had cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in her system when she died last Thanksgiving.

Witnesses testified during a March 14 preliminary hearing in Tuscola County District Court that Hills and Byrd were involved in a plan that night to sell a large quantity of heroin out of a Reese apartment. Byrd died a few hours into execution of the alleged plan.

However, Greg Bringard, Hills’ attorney, made a motion that would effectively remove the charge against Hills relating to Byrd’s death, arguing that Hills didn’t deliver the drugs that caused Byrd’s death because they were working together.

“We’re obviously happy the court agreed with our motion,” Bringard said. “Mr. Hills is still saddened by what happened. That was the mother of his children and his girlfriend.” (Read more)

(This story originally appeared in the print edition of The Tuscola County Advertiser on July 27, 2016 and can be read online here)