DA's Office prosecutes deadly fentanyl sale as homicide 

San Luis Obispo County is possibly facing a first: prosecuting a fentanyl overdose death as a homicide.

On May 15, the Sheriff's Office arrested Templeton native Brandi Turner for allegedly selling fentanyl to 31-year-old Quinn Hall that resulted in his death. Hall's body was discovered behind the county Animal Services building on Oklahoma Avenue on Oct. 27, 2022. The Sheriff's Office later determined the cause to be a fentanyl overdose and that Turner sold him the synthetic opioid.

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• File Photo By Jayson Mellom
• PRIME TIME The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office charged Oklahoma Avenue safe parking site resident Brandi Turner with murder in the second degree for allegedly selling fentanyl to 31-year-old Quinn Hall that resulted in his death.

Turner, 50, was a resident of the Oklahoma Avenue safe parking site at the time of Hall's death and her arrest. The District Attorney's Office initially charged Turner with two criminal counts at the time of her booking—one for murder in the second degree and the other for transporting, selling, and/or furnishing narcotics. However, as of May 24, that count jumped to seven, now including possession of controlled substances for sale and possession of metal knuckles.

Those extra charges, including the one for owning metal knuckles, stem from Turner's past run-ins with the law. According to court documents, she's contending with two other unresolved criminal complaints for offenses that took place on Oct. 3, 2022, and Feb. 2, 2023.

The latest complete dataset from the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard shows that SLO County ranked 10th of the state's 58 counties in 2021 for fentanyl-related deaths at 27.9 per 100,000 residents. That year, the county also racked up opioid overdose deaths at a rate that was 55 percent higher than the state's.

Homeless Services Division manager Joe Dzvonik told New Times that security measures at the safe parking site were reinforced since Hall's death last October. Now, there are two video cameras at the front gate that run round the clock, and another camera monitors the food pantry.

"There were some incidents of damage to the power generator that supports the food pantry," Dzvonik said. "The reasons for that are unknown other than people looking for parts or fuel."

The county has also reinstated 24-hour uniformed security guards who are on the premises over three different shifts—a marked change from the patrolling that only happened during the day because of "resource issues," according to Dzvonik.

Dzvonik said that the safe parking site participants generally "mind their business," and none of them have expressed concerns about Hall's death and Turner's arrest to him yet.

The DA's Office said that Turner's case is the second time it has charged a fentanyl dealer with murder for selling the drug, which resulted in the purchaser's death. The first occurred in May 2020 when the DA's Office charged Timothy Wolfe of Paso Robles for selling a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl to 19-year-old Atascadero resident Emilio Velci that resulted in his death. However, that case was transferred to the federal court system.

In a press release sent out after Turner's arrest, DA Dan Dow said he would aggressively prosecute the sale of deadly drugs in the community.

"While a purchaser may believe they are buying a pharmaceutical-grade painkiller, there is no way to know who made them, where they came from, or what is in them. Sadly, as happens too often, it leads to overdose and death," he said. "We will not tolerate the criminal distribution of heroin, fentanyl, and other hard drugs because too many young people have been dying across our country and here in our community."

Turner's arraignment was May 24 with Judge Craig Van Rooyen presiding. She was being held at the county jail without bail. Δ