Charges filed in Lansing man's fentanyl overdose death

CHARLOTTE - A Detroit man faces a capital felony charge in connection with the fentanyl overdose death of a Lansing man.

Darrell Andre Pettway, 27, was charged last month with one count of drug delivery causing the April 3 death of Andrew James Overton, 38, of Lansing.

Prosecutors allege Overton was buying alcohol at a Quality Dairy on Waverly Road when Pettway approached and offered a sample of drugs he was selling.

Overton later died from that sample, said Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd.

Pettway's attorney, Matt Newburg, declined to comment. Pettway previously waived a preliminary examination in Eaton County District Court and currently awaits trial in Eaton County Circuit Court, records show. 

He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

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In a second Eaton County case, Pettway faces up to 30 years in prison for delivering what prosecutors described as less than 50 grams of heroin.

That charge normally carries a maximum sentence of 20 years but court records show Lloyd is charging Pettway as a habitual offender based off a 2012 conviction in Wayne County for assault with a deadly weapon.

Lloyd said the two cases are not directly related.

"Opioids, fentanyl and heroin have become an epidemic throughout the United States, and in Eaton County we take it quite seriously," Lloyd said. "Individuals who are going to be drug dealers and (cause people to die), that's their risk, that they will be charged."

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State records show Pettway also pleaded guilty in October to three counts of delivering or manufacturing a controlled substance in two separate Macomb County cases.

Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.