Attorney General Hunter charges alleged drug dealer with first degree murder

OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General Mike Hunter has filed first-degree murder charges in Carter County on a Duncan man after an investigation for allegedly selling a lethal dose of heroin that killed a woman the same day she purchased the drugs.

According to the affidavit, Howard Timken Jr., 36, admitted to selling a gram of heroin and approximately 1.5 grams of methamphetamine to Kimberly Ford in the early morning of May 18, 2017, hours before her death.

An interview with a witness, who accompanied Ford to purchase the drugs the day she died, said after she picked up the drugs in Duncan, she injected herself with what the witness believed to be a fatal dose of heroin and methamphetamine while on the way back to Springer. Approximately 10 to 15 minutes after taking the drugs, the witness said Ford said she ‘felt weird’.

When they arrived to Springer, she began ‘nodding out’. The witness then drove Ford to an Ardmore hospital, where she died later that day. The medical examiner ruled her cause of death to be methamphetamine toxicity.

Hunter said his office continues its commitment to working with statewide law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute drug dealers.

“Drug dealers, who prey on addicts and operate illicit enterprises, are making a calculated decision, knowing their actions could result in the death of another person,” Hunter said. “This atrocity is fueling the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic that has claimed thousands of Oklahomans. Charging drug dealers with first-degree murder when justified by the facts sends a message to those engaging in this criminal trade to stop or face dire consequences.

“I appreciate the work of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and the Stephens County Drug Task Force for assisting in the investigation. Additionally, I thank Carter County District Attorney Craig Ladd for helping us prosecute this case.”

Hunter is pursuing charges under a law he authored in 1989 while serving as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representative. The late Sen. Larry Dickerson, D-Poteau, co-authored the bill. The legislation amended Oklahoma law to make the taking of a life during unlawful distribution or dispensing of controlled, dangerous substances or trafficking illegal drugs eligible for first – degree murder.

Read Senate Bill 404, here: https://bit.ly/2IXTaqd.

“The actions of the cold, ruthless drug dealers, who haunt our streets, are motivated by one thing, profit,” then-Rep. Hunter said when the bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. “I believe they will weigh the risk of death against their profits.”

Read the affidavit, here: https://bit.ly/2IZkHHy.

All defendants are innocent until proven guilty.