PLEA EXPECTED IN DRUG DEATH CASE

PETOSKEY -- A man charged with second-degree murder in a drug
overdose death last fall is expected to plead guilty today to
attempted involuntary manslaughter, a five-year felony.

Kaven Turman, who admitted to supplying methadone to a Harbor Springs
woman who overdosed last October, cut a deal with prosecutors to drop
the murder charge, punishable by up to life in prison, said defense
attorney Dan Hartman.

"I understand the authority on which the prosecutor relied" in make
the murder charge, said Hartman, "but I disagree with the
interpretation. I don't feel the second-degree murder charge was
sustainable. I feel this is a fair (plea) agreement."

Numerous calls over the past week to the Emmet County Prosecutors
office about the pending plea deal went unreturned.

Turman, 40, is likely prison-bound, Hartman said. The sentencing
guidelines will call for a minimum sentence between one and two years, he said.

Katherine Daily died Oct. 30 of a methadone overdose. Hartman said
Turman will plead guilty to attempted-involuntary manslaughter, along
with one count of illegal-drug possession and one misdemeanor count
of maintaining a drug house.

He will also plead guilty to unlawfully carrying an uncased firearm,
a charge from an unrelated case, Hartman said.

Other charges, including the murder charge and three illegal drug
distribution charges, will be dismissed, he said.

Court records Wednesday reflected no specifics of the agreement, only
that a plea was set for Thursday morning. But the charges were
modified recently to include attempted-involuntary manslaughter and
drug possession.

Hartman said Turman maintains he gave Daily "four pills over the
course of a week."

"My client has repeatedly expressed distress and remorse," he said.
"He had a ... relationship with the girl and never meant any harm."