Pottawatomie County Attorney Sherri Schuck gave her opening statement Monday in the second trial of 22-year-old McKaine Farr, of Wamego, for distribution of a controlled substance causing death.
Farr is accused of distributing fentanyl to Thomas Jackson DeLoach, of Manhattan, in March 2023, causing his death. Farr was convicted of the same charge in December for the September 2021 death of Jayson Ebert, of Wamego. DeLoach died of an apparent drug overdose at the Manhattan Quality Inn hotel on East Highway 24.
Schuck told jurors they would be hearing a lot during the trial on “aiding and abetting” — issues that were raised in the jury selection. She says leading up to DeLoach’s death, a group of young people, who would testify later in the trial, were sitting in Starbucks when they decided to purchase “Dirty 30s” or fentanyl.
Farr’s defense attorney Matthew Cohen told jurors in his opening statement, there is no evidence of Farr’s connection to the drugs, stating it was another defendant, Shawn Samuelson who bought the pills from defendant Noah Baker, who he says then distributed the pills to DeLoach.
The trial continues in Judge Jeff Elder’s courtroom through the rest of this week. Read more on this story in the Manhattan Mercury and Pottawatomie County Times.
