GRAND RAPIDS - A Grand Rapids man on Monday pleaded guilty of giving his wife a lethal dose of the painkilling drug Fentanyl.
In a plea agreement, Terry Wayne Richards, 49, pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree manslaughter, according to Itasca County Attorney John J. Muhar. He waived his right to a presentence investigation and will serve five years and eight months in prison.
He originally had been charged with third-degree murder.
According to the criminal complaint, Richards purchased a Fentanyl patch, extracted the drug, sold some of it to another person and on Sept. 19 provided some to his wife at their Grand Rapids home.
Police were called to a medical emergency there that evening. Richards' wife was taken by ambulance to Grand Itasca Hospital, where she later was pronounced dead.
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According to the complaint, Richards said that his wife had overdosed in the past, and he had revived her by throwing water on her.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used to treat excessive pain and before medical procedures. Health officials say it is 80-100 times more potent than morphine and many times more potent than heroin.
