A French Valley man accused of giving a fatal dose of fentanyl to his 16-year-old girlfriend was defended in court this week as “a kid being reckless,” while a prosecutor told jurors he acted with contempt for human life and should be convicted of murder.
The jury began deliberating the case against Raymond Gene Tyrrell II after attorneys delivered their closing arguments Monday, July 29, before Judge Stephen J. Gallon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. Tyrrell, 21, is charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 24, 2021, death of Jenna Gordon, whose brother also died from fentanyl poisoning less than a year earlier. Jurors also have the option of convicting Tyrrell of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Also charged in the case, but being tried separately, is Jeremiah Carlton, 21, of Canyon Lake, who allegedly sold Tyrrell six counterfeit Percocet pills laced with fentanyl the day of Gordon’s death. He faces one count of murder and two felony counts of possession of fentanyl with the intent to sell. His trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 30.
Defendant was aware of dangers
Deputy District Attorney Gerald Pfohl told jurors that Tyrrell, who was 18 years old at the time of his girlfriend’s death, should be judged on the “conscious disregard” he showed for human life on the day Gordon died.
Tyrrell crushed half of one of the counterfeit pills into powder, then cut it into lines that he and Gordon snorted, Pfohl said. Gordon’s mother, Tammy Lyon-Gordon, later discovered the two unconscious in Gordon’s bedroom, and both were taken to a hospital, where Gordon died but Tyrrell survived.
When Tyrrell awoke in the hospital from his drug-induced coma, Pfohl said, he told Riverside County sheriff’s investigators he had overdosed twice before on the drug, and that he “got lucky” each time.
“This bitch doesn’t putt,” Tyrrell told investigators, referring to the drug’s potency.
When investigators asked him why he kept doing it, and why he would supply it to someone else, Tyrrell said, “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. I just have an addictive personality. That’s just how I am.”
Despite all that — and knowing that Gordon’s own brother, 18-year-old Tyler Gordon, died of fentanyl poisoning a year prior — Tyrrell ingested the drugs with Gordon anyway, Pfohl told the jury. He compared Tyrrell’s conduct to playing Russian roulette, and that Gordon lost.
“The idea that (Tyrrell) would then allow that 16-year-old to have the gun and to play the game is utterly and incredibly insane,” Pfohl said. He said that given Tyrrell’s past overdose experiences and knowing people who have died from fentanyl overdoses, he warranted a second-degree murder conviction.
An accident, not murder
However, Tyrrell’s attorney, Charles Kenyon, portrayed Gordon’s death as an accident, insisting Tyrrell believed he had purchased Percocet from Carlton. Tyrrell told investigators he avoided hard drugs, mainly heroin and methamphetamine, because of how dangerous they were, and that he had stopped dealing drugs and was turning his life around after moving in with Gordon and her mother at their home.
Kenyon said sheriff’s investigators and hospital staff “planted” the idea in Tyrrell’s head that he knowingly supplied Gordon with fentanyl after he awoke in a “fog” in the hospital, and that Gordon’s death is best explained as a tragic result of two people plagued by addiction.
“Addicts — they know they’re taking poison, every last one of them,” Kenyon said. He said Gordon’s death was not an act of hate, neglect or even indifference, but rather was an accident.
He also noted that when Gordon reportedly told Tyrrell she wanted to take a whole pill instead of half of one, Tyrrell persuaded her only to do half because she could possibly die from taking a whole one. That showed that he did not act with “conscious disregard” for Gordon’s life, Kenyon said.
“He was an 18-year-old addict, and he assumed just as much risk,” Kenyon said. “In reality, it’s a kid being reckless, an addict.”
Fentanyl crackdown
Tyrell and Carlton were among several defendants charged with murder in 2021 by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office for selling or providing fentanyl to people who died after ingesting it. Riverside County prosecutors took the lead in the effort to hold drug dealers accountable for peddling the drug that has rapidly become a national public health crisis. Other counties, and even the U.S. Attorney’s Office, soon followed suit.
The District Attorney’s Office now has 23 active fentanyl murder cases with 26 defendants and 24 victims. Since 2021, the office has filed 36 cases total which resulted in two jury trials, two convictions and 10 plea agreements. One defendant died of a fentanyl overdose in custody while awaiting trial.
Reliving the pain
For Tammy Lyon-Gordon, the stress of losing both her teenage children to fentanyl poisoning in the past four years — and following the criminal cases of their alleged killers — has taken a toll. She said she has lost 95 pounds.
In April, nearly four years after her son Tyler’s death, a federal grand jury indicted Edward Hernandez, 24, of Menifee, on suspicion of providing Tyler Gordon the fentanyl that killed him on April 21, 2020. Gordon, according to his mother, met Hernandez on the social media platform Snapchat and met up with him to purchase counterfeit Percocet, which turned out to be laced with fentanyl.
Hernandez also is accused of distributing fentanyl to 23-year Temecula resident Raeven Riano, who died after ingesting the drug on April 11, 2020, 10 days prior to Tyler Gordon’s death.
All of it has left Lyon-Gordon feeling a little on edge.
“It’s all coming to a head so fast,” she said Monday during a break from court proceedings. “I’m extremely overwhelmed with all of it and having to relive it all over again.”
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