Michael G. McIntyre this afternoon pleaded no contest to killing 33-year-old Chelsea Lenore Price. on Aug. 11, 2020, and will serve 20 years in prison after Circuit Judge Terence Perkins sentenced him on that and other charges.
McIntyre is among nearly a half dozen Flagler County residents who have so far been charged with murder after selling drugs that killed their clients. He had faced a first degree capital felony murder charge, which carries a maximum penalty of death, trafficking meth, a first-degree felony that carries a 30-year penalty, possession of a controlled substance, a second degree felony. So today’s plea enabled a considerable reduction in penalties he faced.
The murder charge was reduced to manslaughter, a second-degree felony. The state and he agreed to 15 years on the manslaughter charge, five years on the possession with intent to sell, concurrent to the 15 years, then five years on the trafficking charge, to run consecutively to the other sentences.
“This case is being resolved fairly quickly, Brian Smith, McIntyre’s attorney, said. “I think the state just got the indictment about 60 days ago. And Mr. McIntyre has known this case, this charge, was coming. And he’s been wanting to resolve this case. So we have not done any depositions or any real discovery on this case other than what the state’s given us, and I’ve given him copies to review on his own and he would still like to resolve this case today.”
McIntyre had known Price, and had supplied her with “heroin/fentanyl,” according to one of his arrest reports. Detectives narrowed their suspicions on him when Price’s phone revealed that he had conducted the transaction with her before her death. (He quoted a price of $150 for 1 gram of fentanyl in a transaction undercover cops conducted with him.) He would tell detectives that the fentanyl he sold was mixed with Benadryl, both to increase his profits and to dilute the drug to prevent the client from dying. He said he himself had overdosed and “died” once, and been brought back with Narcan, the neutralizing agent.
Shannon says
Should we now require drug dealers to have a pharmaceutical degree and then the addicts can file complaints when it wasn’t worth the high?
Dev says
It’s crazy to see somebody I grew up with in a situation like this and wish him the best but the courts got the best of them but he could have made a better decision and like the article says there’s nearly a half a dozen more you don’t know when it happened to it happens to yourself but luckily some people just know when to stop…. Keep your head up high bro. Got plenty of time to think about what dope had done to many of us.. just got to know when n your done your done no looking back I mean I’m not perfect by far but I’ve finally had enough of the BS around this town . There’s so much undercover crime here that no one knows shit about but it is what it is….
Timothy Patrick Welch says
So…
If the mandated COVID vaccine kills someone, whom should we prosecute?
One person wanted the drug but died, the other person did not want the drug but died.
Which is a worse crime?
reallynoneofyourbusiness says
Really??
In the meantime, the “bigger fish” are still out there.
Wish you well Michael.
Flagler Expatriate says
If you do fentanyl you know the risk you’re taking. I agree the defendant should be punished for trafficking in illegal drugs. The text message the cops found clearly indicated the deceased knew what he was taking. It’s the instances when a dealer cuts cocaine with fentanyl where a sentence like this is required.
Warehousing people isn’t the answer!
Timothy Patrick Welch says
Punishing supplier(s) will not stop demand.
Nobody asked me, but... says
To Flagler Expat, the addict cannot help themselves as long as these drugs are available. The fact is that Fentanyl is a death sentence. It should be the same for the dealer. He knew what he was selling. That’s murder.
TheTruth says
You really think the “addict” wouldn’t find another means of getting high? They knew what they were taking. Next thing we know we will be convicting walmart for selling keyboard cleaner and dryer sheets. But hey THATS MURDER.
Tessa says
I’m more than happy/ satisfied…he should have got the death penalty…me and my husband think he’s a creepy serial killer cuz he was obsessed with her then that happened, then he did the same exact thing to me ..it killed me twice but I came back luckily unlike that poor sweet girl…he never learned even getting the first murder charge..