(Stillwater, Okla.) — The mother of a former Cushing teenage girl who died after repeatedly injecting methamphetamine with her brother at a Lake Carl Blackwell family reunion west of Stillwater last June was given a 10-year prison term Friday as part of a plea bargain.
The victim’s birth mother, Doris Sharrane Rigsby, 34, of Waukomis, was originally charged with first-degree murder in the methamphetamine overdose death of her 15-year-old daughter Linda Renee Tucker — the granddaughter and adopted daughter of the late Cushing Police Detective Linda Tucker.
Rigsby pleaded guilty Friday to an amended charge of causing, aiding or encouraging her minor daughter to commit a drug-related crime — by facilitating her daughter’s use of methamphetamine and by facilitating the drug’s distribution by her then 17-year-old son, Joseph Logan Tucker, now 18 and living in Cushing.
As part of a plea bargain recommended by District Attorney Tom Lee Friday, Rigsby was also given a 10-year probationary sentence to serve on her release from prison, under Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler’s order Friday.
Rigsby’s boyfriend, Jeffery Alan Phillips, 30, of Enid, an ex-convict with a drug history, who had dated Rigsby for just over a week, was also originally charged with first-degree murder in the methamphetamine overdose death.
Phillips pleaded guilty Friday to a charge reduced by the district attorney to unlawful delivery of methamphetamine and was given a 15-year prison term Friday, as part of a plea bargain.
Phillips told the judge in court, “I took the drug from Logan (the victim’s teenage brother), mixed it up and gave it to Linda,” the methamphetamine overdose victim.
The victim’s brother, Joseph Logan Tucker, 18, now of Cushing, was not charged with murder in his sister’s death, but was viewed an essential witness in the case, District Attorney Tom Lee told KUSH Monday.
“Logan was a juvenile at the time. We felt his testimony was crucial. We needed him as a witness rather than make him a defendant,” the district attorney told KUSH.
Regarding why the case was reduced against the victim’s mother’s boyfriend, the district attorney told KUSH, “Our primary witness, Logan, was an admitted meth user and dealer.
“With the agreement of the investigating agencies, we decided that 15 years in (prison) was a sure thing for Phillips as opposed to risking a jury trial where Logan Tucker might be viewed as not a credible witness.”
Regarding why the victim’s mother’s case was reduced, the district attorney noted that although Rigsby was originally charged with murder, she was instead ordered to stand trial on a charge of child neglect by District Judge Phillip Corley.
The district attorney said that he filed a more specific charge under the child neglect statute which carries the same maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
“We feel that justice has been served. They will serve lengthy prison sentences,” the district attorney said regarding the victim’s mother and the victim’s mother’s boyfriend.
A murder charge had also been filed against the alleged drug dealer, Heather Lynn Gaddis, 30, of Tulsa, which was dismissed at the close of the preliminary hearing, which began last December and concluded in March.
Her court-appointed attorney, Virginia Banks, successfully argued that “the death occurred at least 12 hours later 100 miles away,” from the alleged drug distribution by Gaddis to the victim’s brother in Bartlesville.
The Payne County District Attorney told KUSH Monday that he has been in contact with the Washington County District Attorney regarding Gaddis’s role in the matter.
“An investigator has been assigned to determine if she (Gaddis) will be charged with drug delivery — we’re hoping she will be,” in Washington County.
The teenage methamphetamine overdose victim was taken from Lake Carl Blackwell by her mother and her mother’s boyfriend shortly before 1 a.m. June 26, 2010, to a convenience store parking lot west of Stillwater, where the girl was pronouced dead a few minutes later by Stillwater Fire Department personnel.
Her brother, Logan Tucker, now 18, testified at the preliminary hearing that he had been using methamphetamine since he was 15. He had been in a group home for substance abuse problems for the previous seven months, he said.
“Me and my mom and my little sister (sometimes referred to in court as ‘Little Linda’) decided we’d get some meth and get high,” at the family reunion, Logan Tucker testified.
He testified that he bought methamphetamine in Bartlesville from Gaddis with $700 that he had received when his adopted mother, the late Cushing Police Detective Linda Tucker, died.
He testified that he brought the methamphetamine to the family reunion at Lake Carl Blackwell, when he arrived between 7 and 8 p.m. that night.
“Me and Linda (his 15-year-old sister) was talking about shooting in the neck — it was supposed to be a really good high.
“J.P. (Phillips, his mother’s boyfriend) mixed it up,” according to the testimony of Logan Tucker, who said that he and his sister injected the drug into their necks. “J.P. did his shot in his arm,” he added.
“I was way over high. Linda was like me, way over high. I remember her say she was cold. I thought it was because she went swimming. They gave her an inhaler.
“She was breathing heavily. Her body was locked up. It seemed like there was something wrong with it. Phillips said she needed to sleep it off. I didn’t know at that time what was happening,” Logan Tucker testified.
He testified that the late Cushing Police Detective Linda Tucker was his adopted mother.
“She adopted me when I was a little kid, 2-years-old. I was 14 when she (the detective) died. Linda was 12 when she died. I lived in Cushing all my life.
Logan Tucker testified that he had seen his birth mother, Rigsby, only a few times and realized that Rigsby had drug problems.
When his adoptive mother died, Logan Tucker said he felt free to use drugs.
“I know if she wouldn’t have passed, I wouldn’t have got caught up in drugs,” Logan Tucker testified.
He said that his sister, who was referred to in court as “Little Linda” or “Nee” took at least four shots of methamphtamine at the family reunion.
He said that before his sister’s methamphetamine overdose death, “We were trying to have too much fun too fast. When the rush went down, that’s when we did another one.”
Dr. Chai Choi, who has been with the State Medical Examiner’s Office since 1983 and has performed about 8,000 autopsies, testified that the 15-year-old girl died of acute methamphetamine intoxication.
Logan Tucker testified, “I had two different bags, one was powdered meth and one was ice. We mixed some of the powdered dope with the ice.”
He testified that he and his sister shared a syringe and injected the drug into their necks.
“She did me first. It was supposed to be an incredible high. I was just stupid. I helped her (his deceased sister) inject meth,” into her neck. he testified.
He testified that he and his deceased sister were the only ones who brought methamphetamine to the family reunion at the lake.
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