To begin in early May for 3 accused

Trial dates have been set for a mother and two others accused of contributing to the drug overdose death of a 2-year-old boy from Ironton.

The trial dates will be May 6, 7, and 8 and will be in the Lawrence County Common Pleas Court of Judge Andy Ballard. The defendants in the case are the boy’s mother, Casey Boggess, 28, of Ironton, boyfriend, David E. Large, 36, of Ironton, and the person accused of providing the couple with the drug Fentanyl, Jonathon Rice, 34, of Ironton.
It is undecided at this time if the three will be tried together or separately.

The case began on Jan. 27 when the boy was found dead in an Ironton apartment. An autopsy found the boy had died of respiratory failure and there were drugs in his system.

The Ironton Police Department arrested Boggess and charged her with two counts of endangering children. Large was arrested and charged with endangering children. Rice was charged with corrupting another with drugs.

On Feb. 27, Boggess and Large were both indicted by the Lawrence County Grand Jury for three counts of involuntary manslaughter, felonies of the first degree, two counts of endangering children, felonies of the third degree, one count corrupting another with drugs, a felony of the second degree, and one count of aggravated possession of drugs, a felony of the fifth degree. The two counts of child endangering are for the child who died and another child that was in the apartment when the drugs were present.

Rice was indicted on one count of corrupting another with drugs, a felony of the second degree, with the indictment specifying the drug was fentanyl.

Lawrence County prosecutor Brigham Anderson said that while all cases involving death are terrible, the age of the victim in this case makes these cases all the more emotional.

“This is a horrible tragedy,” he said. “This kid got a hold of fentanyl and overdosed because of the absolute neglect of the people that should have been taking care of him. It is just sad.”