Man gets sentencing alternative in fatal Everett overdose

EVERETT — A Sedro-Woolley man who would brag to customers that his drugs could kill people was sentenced Friday to nearly 2½ years in prison after his friend overdosed on fentanyl pills.

In July, after a trial in Snohomish County Superior Court, a jury convicted Avery Bresnan, 26, of controlled substance homicide and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Jurors took over a day to reach a verdict.

Before his death, Jayden Barker-Fisher, 20, moved in with his cousin in south Everett. His longtime girlfriend had just broken up with him over his opioid use, according to court papers.

In the weeks leading up to his death, Barker-Fisher and his high school friend, Bresnan, reportedly texted about pills. One night that month, they texted about getting gas money and driving to Monroe together.

Barker-Fisher got back to his cousin’s around 10:30 p.m. that night. He got a drink of water and went to bed, according to court documents. He and his cousin were supposed to get haircuts the next day. But when Barker-Fisher wasn’t up by noon, his cousin went to check on him. Barker-Fisher appeared to be asleep, but when a large object falling in the closet didn’t stir him, the cousin realized something was wrong.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office determined he died of acute fentanyl intoxication.

A toxicology report found 7.6 nanograms of fentanyl per milliliter of Barker-Fisher’s blood, along with THC, caffeine and Citalopram, an antidepressant. Barker-Fisher’s cousin reported finding a Tic Tac container in Barker-Fisher’s room with 4½ counterfeit oxycodone M30 pills inside, according to charging papers.

A highly potent synthetic opioid, fentanyl has been linked to 155 of the county’s 211 fatal drug overdoses this year, according to the medical examiner’s office. Last year, 256 of the county’s 335 overdose deaths involved fentanyl.

Under state sentencing guidelines, Bresnan, who had no criminal history, faced between 4¼ years and 5⅔ years behind bars. Prosecutors asked for the high end of that range.

“The safety of the community (especially those in throws of addiction whom drug dealers such as the defendant prey upon) requires a sentence at the top of the range,” deputy prosecutor Adam Sturdivant wrote in court filings.

Bresnan’s public defender, on the other hand, requested a Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative, often a lesser sentence that includes drug treatment. The defense attorney, Eli Jacobsen, urged Superior Court Judge Karen Moore to sentence Bresnan to 29¾ months in prison.

Jacobsen noted Bresnan was exposed to his parents’ drug use from a young age. He started selling drugs when he began middle school. At 16, he tried cocaine for the first time, according to court filings.

“Avery deserves a chance now to overcome his addiction and start his life in the community,” Jacobsen wrote, adding that the Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative was also “the best option for the community, which needs people to be released from prison with a real chance to break the cycle of addiction.”

Sturdivant called the judge potentially siding with the defense “akin to allowing a wolf in sheep’s clothing into a program designed to protect and rehabilitate drug users.”

Moore sided with the defense.

In a similar case, an Everett woman accused of dealing the fentanyl that killed her best friend was sentenced in August to two years in prison.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; X: @GoldsteinStreet.