Woman pleads guilty in lethal overdose case

A Hermantown woman pleaded guilty to felony third-degree murder Monday, Aug. 10, admitting tearfully that she sold methamphetamine to a Moose Lake woman who died as a result of taking the drug in 2018.

Dawn Marie Clemons, 41, appeared in person before Judge Robert Macaulay in Sixth Judicial District Carlton County Court Monday, with her attorney Kevin Cornwell and prosecuting attorney Jeffrey Boucher there and others attending via Zoom video. In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecution agreed to recommend a downward departure for sentencing of 60 months. Clemons also has the right to argue for a further dispositional departure at her sentencing hearing next month, which will also be held in person.

Boucher noted that the sentencing decision ultimately rests with Macauley, who will make the final decision and who deferred acceptance of the guilty plea until the sentencing hearing.

According to the criminal complaint, first responders found a 38-year-old Moose Lake woman deceased at her residence Aug. 5, 2018. The unidentified woman’s roommate said he had last seen her at approximately 4 p.m. and said she seemed “off” and may have been using methamphetamine. The victim’s mother also told police that her daughter had called her earlier in the day and asked her to take her to the hospital, but when she arrived, her daughter would not answer the door. She also suspected that her daughter may have been using drugs.

The medical examiner said there were signs of an overdose.

According to the criminal complaint, two days later a friend and family member discovered the victim’s phone and gave it to Moose Lake police officers, after seeing that there were text messages referring to a drug deal between the defendant and a person named “Dawn” in the early morning hours of Aug. 5.

A Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent analyzed the phone and found that the text messages had been sent from a phone belonging to Clemons. The messages allegedly included arrangements for Clemons to buy controlled substances and deliver them to the victim, who was identified in the criminal complaint only by the initials L.M.O. Officers also found evidence at the victim’s residence that tested positive for meth.

According to the complaint, Clemons told police that the deceased woman called her and asked her to bring her some meth and syringes. She allegedly procured a gram of meth for $60 and drove to Moose Lake, where she and L.M.O. both used the drug intravenously. She told police that L.M.O. gave her $28 and some clothes for bringing the drug.

Boucher talked Clemons back through the events of Aug. 5 during Monday’s hearing, confirming that Clemons first met the deceased woman at a halfway house in Duluth. L.M.O. was a resident and Clemons was a staff person there, she said.

Clemons is due back in court for sentencing at 2 p.m. Sept. 14. The maximum sentence for third-degree murder is 25 years in prison.