A Matter of Intent

In court proceedings over the last four months, federal prosecutors have insisted that Cye Frasier and Carlisa Allen intentionally sold fentanyl-laced cocaine to college students. Frasier and Allen were so reckless, they said, that it eventually led to the deaths of UNC student Elizabeth Grace Burton and former UNC-Wilmington student Joshua Skip Zinner last March. 

While Frasier entered a guilty plea last fall, Allen went to trial in November, resulting in her conviction on five charges, including distribution that led to Zinner’s death.

One of the key pieces of evidence prosecutors used to show that the dealers intentionally cut cocaine with fentanyl was a note found on Allen’s phone. It said, “28 raw can add 14 cut.” 

DEA agent Stephen Razik testified at Allen’s trial that “raw” referred to coke and “cut” referred to fentanyl. He based that opinion in part on thousands of text messages between Allen and Frasier. Prosecutors accepted Razik’s testimony as fact, and the defense did not contest it–until Frasier’s sentencing in a federal court in Greensboro last week. 

Months after Allen’s week-long trial and hours after she was sentenced to 28 years, Frasier offered a different explanation for the note. 

Dressed in a baggy white T-shirt and red sneakers, his hands chained together in front of him, he first apologized to the families of the victims. He told them the inclusion of fentanyl in the cocaine sold to Burton and Zinner was a mistake.

His actions were wrong, he said, which is why he pleaded guilty. And he did sell fentanyl as well as cocaine. After a lifetime of trauma, using and dealing drugs became an addicting lifestyle for him, even if it was “not okay.”

But he said the prosecution had it wrong.

“I only cut fentanyl with cut,” he said, meaning he used a cutting agent. 

Frasier said he had “bagged up a bunch of coke” that weekend last March when basketball rivals Duke and UNC were facing off. On March 8, he left Allen’s house and was supposed to bring cocaine to Zinner, but didn’t have any pre-packaged baggies available. He stopped by his own house to get some, and believes he either weighed the cocaine on a scale with fentanyl residue or packed it in a baggie that did.

When Burton called him at 4 a.m. on March 9, she woke him from his sleep, he said. He had no pre-packaged bags then, either, but several bags of powder sat on top of his TV. He thinks he accidentally mixed fentanyl into the bags he packed for Burton. 

“I do sell fentanyl,” he said. “But I have never mixed it.”

“I’m being honest,” he repeated throughout. At that point, there was “no reason to lie.”

Judge William L. Osteen Jr. then turned to prosecutor Michael DeFranco. Razik said the note referred to fentanyl, Osteen noted. Did the government still hold that opinion? 

“W-we know they were cutting fentanyl and coke,” DeFranco said at first, hesitating as he spoke. But he said they never debriefed Frasier, who despite being on the prosecution’s witness list was never called to testify at her trial. 

Whether or not Frasier and Allen knowingly cut cocaine with fentanyl does not change “where we are,” DeFranco offered.

Intentionally cutting cocaine with fentanyl is a different type of recklessness than mistakenly mixing the two, Osteen replied

Selling fentanyl under any circumstance is reckless, DeFranco told the judge. 

“We don’t have evidence that they knowingly sold mixed bags to them,” DeFranco then said, noting that they can be guilty of both deaths without knowing the cocaine was laced. If they sold both, a mix-up was bound to happen, he said.

But Osteen pushed back, arguing that an accidental mix-up was an example of negligence–very different from intentionally cutting coke with fentanyl.

Other experts have raised questions about the meaning of the text. Nabarun Dasgupta, a scientist from UNC-Chapel Hill who studies drugs, said that it was highly unlikely that the note referred to 28 grams of cocaine and 14 grams of fentanyl. 

“It would be weird economics,” he said, and likely referred to mixing fentanyl and a cutting agent. He was surprised that the defense did not contest it during the trial.

In the end, Osteen decided couldn’t immediately consider Frasier’s statement because it wasn’t sworn testimony. He told Frasier that he was prepared to sentence him to 29 years in prison, but that he was still troubled by what he’d heard.

Osteen asked DeFranco and James Quander, Frasier’s attorney, if they needed additional time to consider whether Frasier’s statement changes anything. DeFranco said he was ready for Osteen to rule, but Quander, after pausing for a few minutes, said he would take the additional time. 

Osteen continued Frasier’s sentencing to February 28. 

Charlotte Kramon, a Duke University senior from Los Angeles, worked for the Los Angeles Times last summer and reports for The Ninth Street Journal. Her email is charlotte.kramon@duke.edu.

Michael Hewlett is a staff reporter at The Assembly. He was previously the legal affairs reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal. You can reach him at michael@theassemblync.com.