PROSECUTOR DROPS CHARGE IN DRUG OVERDOSE DEATH

A homicide charge filed earlier this month against accused Sun Prairie drug
dealer William A. Scott was quietly dropped last week at the request of the
District Attorney's Office.

"Based on newly discovered evidence, the state moves to dismiss the case,
without prejudice," Deputy District Attorney Jason Hanson said in a letter
to Dane County Circuit Judge Dan Moeser.

Hanson declined to say what the new evidence was, but said it caused him to
re-assess whether the state could prove the charge against Scott.

Because the case was dismissed without prejudice, the state can refile the
charge if it decides it has sufficient evidence to make a case against Scott.

Scott, 25, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death
Timothy Farrell, 23, formerly of Oregon, who died of a heroin overdose on
July 10 after being found unconscious in the bathroom of a Fitchburg apartment.

Police managed to come up with several friends of Farrell who said he
bought heroin from a man named "Wilbo," a nickname police eventually linked
to Scott. They also found phone records of calls between Scott and Farrell
the night before he died from an overdose.

Scott denied that he sold heroin to Farrell or anybody else, describing
himself to police as a "pothead."

Had the charges not been dropped, Scott could have faced up to 46 years in
prison if he had been convicted.