TAVARES, Fla. — A Umatilla woman was sentenced to life in prison last week for selling fentanyl that killed a Leesburg man in June 2021. Eleven days after his death, the woman’s 2-year-old daughter also died from fentanyl toxicity.
A Lake County jury found Jalynn Nichole Davis, 41, guilty Thursday of death caused by the unlawful distribution of fentanyl. She was sentenced the same day to life in state prison with credit for 1,892 days served, court records show.
The case stemmed from the June 2, 2021, death of Wesley Brown.
Brown bought $20 worth of what he believed was heroin from Davis the previous day, according to a Lake County Sheriff’s Office probable cause affidavit. Witnesses told a detective Brown ingested some of the drug after returning to his Leesburg home and continued using it throughout the night.
The affidavit states Davis was related to Brown but does not specify how.
Brown was found dead the following day. An autopsy determined he died from fentanyl toxicity, and toxicology testing found 17 nanograms of fentanyl per milliliter of blood. The affidavit stated an estimated 3 nanograms per milliliter could be lethal.
Eleven days after Brown’s death, Davis’ daughter, Miya Tierney, was found unresponsive at a home on Southeast Highway 42 in the Umatilla portion of Marion County.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies and paramedics performed CPR, and Miya was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined she also died from fentanyl toxicity.
Davis and Miya’s father, Joseph Arthur Tierney, told detectives they left Miya asleep in a bedroom for about 30 minutes and found her unresponsive when they returned, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives alleged Davis and Tierney brought Miya to a known drug location and failed to protect her from fentanyl in the home.
Davis was arrested July 14, 2021, in the Lake County case involving Brown’s death. On Nov. 2, 2021, Tierney was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, and a warrant was issued for Davis on the same charge.
Tierney was already being held in the Marion County Jail on unrelated charges. Davis was being held without bond in the Lake County Jail on the murder charge and separate drug charges.
Tierney pleaded no contest and was adjudicated guilty March 5. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation, with credit for 1,600 days served.
Davis’ Marion County case was resolved April 2 when she pleaded to the lesser charge of child neglect. She was sentenced to 35 months and 10 days in prison with credit for time served.
In an order accepting Davis’ plea agreement, Marion Circuit Judge Timothy McCourt wrote that prosecutors could not establish when or how the fentanyl entered the home, when Miya came into contact with it or whether she ingested it while under Davis’ supervision.
Multiple people had been inside the home and used drugs, and the evidence more strongly implicated others, including Tierney, as possible sources of the fentanyl, according to the order.
Prosecutors maintained the evidence supported a child neglect conviction because Davis left Miya in the care of someone she knew used drugs.
Davis filed a notice of appeal Saturday in the Lake County case.
