Larry Kline
Havre Daily News
lkline@havredailynews.com
A Havre man who authorities say sold methamphetamine to a man who later died from an overdose has been sentenced on drug charges.
State District Judge David Rice sentenced Charles John Henry Jr., 40, to 10 years with the state Department of Corrections, with all but three years suspended, for a felony charge of criminal production or manufacture of dangerous drugs, a court document said.
Rice also gave Henry a five-year suspended sentence for a felony charge of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and two six-month suspended sentences for misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, the document said.
According to the court document, a Tri-Agency Task Force agent was notified last February that Delbert Jensen, a 46-year-old retired maintenance man living in Havre, had died as a result of an overdose of methamphetamine, the court document said. Attending physicians said the drug caused heart failure, the document said.
Witnesses said it was the first time Jensen had tried methamphetamine, the document said. He died Feb. 22, 2005, at Northern Montana Hospital. One of Jensen's brothers told police that Jensen had gone to North Havre with a woman to buy the drugs from a man named “Chuck,” the document said.
The woman, in an interview with the task force, said Jensen smoked marijuana to help with some of his medical problems but that he hadn't previously used meth.
According to the court document, she told the agent that two days before his death, Jensen asked the woman to obtain meth for him and she refused. On Feb. 22, 2005, the woman was at Henry's house and called Jensen to ask if he still wanted meth. She said Jensen went to Henry's house and snorted a line of meth, according to the court document.
Later that day, Jensen lay on the couch at the woman's house, she told the agent. He tried to stand up and fell, hitting his head on a table, she said. He was taken to the hospital by amublance and later died, the document said.
In a later interview with a task force agent, Henry said he had seen Jensen the morning of Jensen's death but had not sold drugs to Jensen, the court document said.
The day after Jensen's death, Havre police stopped a vehicle Henry was driving and found two bags of marijuana, a bag of crystal methamphetamine and several syringes, the document said. Henry's house was later searched by agents, who found marijuana plants, a balance scale and syringes, the document said.
Henry pleaded no contest to the drug charges on Nov. 23, the document said. Rice sentenced Henry on Feb. 14. In an agreement with the Hill County Attorney's Office, additional felony charges of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and criminal possession of dangerous drugs were dropped, the document said.
Henry was not charged in connection with Jensen's death.
