(COLORADO) — On Monday, May 5, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in a case out of El Paso County that questioned whether or not an individual’s suicidal intent could be relevant to the defendant’s distribution of drugs and linked to the purchaser’s “proximate cause of death.”

The question stems from an August 2023 case where a man, Matthew Bowen, bought pills containing fentanyl from Patrick L. Beverly II. In the evening hours of Aug. 26, 2023, Bowen’s body was found in his car with his cellphone in his lap and a blue pill partially melted on a piece of foil. Police believed the pill to be counterfeit oxycodone containing fentanyl.

An autopsy found that Bowen had died as a result of fentanyl intoxication and that the intoxication was “with lethal intent.” A coroner later determined that Bowen had died of suicide. According to court documents, Bowen had sent a message to his girlfriend and had a history of self-harm.

Beverly had sold Bowen $90 worth of fentanyl pills the day of Bowen’s death, according to court documents. Beverly was charged with one count of distributing less than four grams of fentanyl, a level one drug felony — an offense that enhances the sentence associated with certain drug distribution charges if the criminal conduct was “the proximate cause of death of another person who used or consumed” the drugs.

A level one drug felony carries a range of eight to 32 years in prison. The court argued that Bowen’s death was caused by a chain of events started by the distribution of fentanyl by Beverly.

In the trial, the prosecution argued that the intent of taking fentanyl is irrelevant to determining proximate cause. According to court documents, “Beverly responded that a purchaser’s conscious choice to greatly increase their risk of death by taking a large quantity of fentanyl all at once is not a foreseeable consequence of fentanyl distribution.”

The court ruled that jurors could consider a purchaser’s suicidability in a 5-2 vote, with Justice Boatright and Justice Berkenkotter dissenting.

Beverly’s next status hearing is set for Tuesday, May 13.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by phone, chat or text. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.