A judge yesterday certified to a grand jury charges against a Louisa County man accused of causing a drug overdose death from the prescription pain-reliever fentanyl.

Mathew Glenn Minster, 28, faces second-degree murder and distribution of fentanyl charges stemming from the death of 24-year-old Nichole Brockett, who lived in the northwestern part of the county. A grand jury will consider the case in September.

Prosecutors allege that Minster supplied Brockett with fentanyl on at least two occasions after she complained of pain, and that Minster saw her chew on a fentanyl patch at least once.

Brockett could not be revived on the morning of Dec. 26 when authorities responded to an emergency call at her home. The cause of death was determined to be poisoning from chewing and ingesting a fentanyl patch. Minster and a co-defendant, Randy Eugene Taylor, 35, of Louisa, were charged in May.

Defense attorney John R. Maus argued in court yesterday that Brockett took her life, not Minster.

"He didn't sit on her and shove it down her throat," Maus said outside the courthouse after the hearing.

Authorities in June dropped charges against Taylor after a witness failed to show up for his preliminary hearing. Taylor had also been charged with second-degree murder in Brockett's death.

Fentanyl is a prescription opiate intended to treat moderate to chronic pain. It is potentially lethal when a patch is misapplied or when the fentanyl is extracted to get high by smoking or injection.
Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.