The Ohio Supreme Court has reinstated the conviction of a woman who arranged a $15 heroin deal for a man who later died from a fatal overdose.
The ruling issued Thursday means Carol Seymour will serve a four-year prison sentence tied to her convictions for involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs, and trafficking in heroin.
Seymour told police she acted as a “go-between” for dealers and users, taking a small cut from each sale to support her own addiction. In January 2019, she drove the victim—a man with nearly a 20-year history of opioid use—to a dealer’s home and purchased about $15 worth of heroin for him, according to court records.
The man repaid her with antifreeze for her car. Later that day, he died of an overdose at his mother’s home. Authorities found him surrounded by a needle, along with a plate holding a spoon and straw and other drug paraphernalia.
Officials later found heroin and three additional substances in his system: Benadryl, Ritalin (a stimulant), and kratom, an herbal supplement often used during opioid withdrawal that has been increasingly linked to fatal overdoses.
The Supreme Court dismissed arguments suggesting uncertainty over whether heroin alone caused the death. Instead, it established a new legal standard that makes it easier for prosecutors to secure convictions in cases involving fatal overdoses with multiple substances.
Public defenders representing Seymour argued that the death resulted not from heroin alone but from the combined effects of all four drugs. A panel of judges from the Tenth Appellate District agreed, noting that neither the forensic toxicologist nor the pathologist could definitively state during trial whether heroin alone caused the death or if it was the result of the combined substances.
They also pointed out that Seymour’s actions appeared tied to her own addiction struggles, making her a questionable target for prosecution.
However, the Supreme Court justices—six Republicans and one Democrat—firmly concluded the cause of death, referring to the victim only as Adam. (His name appears in other court records, but Signal Ohio has chosen not to publish it.)
“Though there was no direct testimony that Adam would have lived if he had not taken the heroin, we see considerable circumstantial evidence in the record that indicates that the heroin caused Adam’s overdose death,” Justice Dan Hawkins wrote for the court.
Hawkins emphasized that the toxicologist testified Adam had a “high concentration” of kratom and an amount of heroin “typical” in fatal overdoses.
The evidence showed Adam took a drug he had avoided for years, and it led to his death within an hour.
“Any rational trier of fact could – viewing this evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution – readily conclude that but for Adam’s taking the heroin on the day of his overdose, he would not have died,” Hawkins wrote.
“Heroin was the most dangerous of the four drugs Adam took, and the evidence overwhelmingly suggested that it was responsible for his overdose.”
Seymour’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
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