Woman found not guilty of manslaughter in Brandon man's 2020 overdose death

A woman accused of selling the drugs that killed a Brandon man nearly five years ago has been found not guilty following her trial for manslaughter in the southwestern Manitoba city.

Hailey Lepine, 25, had pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, criminal negligence and unlawfully trafficking a controlled substance in connection with the 2020 overdose death of 30-year-old Michael Crede. 

Justice Elliot Leven, who presided over the judge-only March 25 to 27 trial at the Court of King's Bench in Brandon, acquitted Lepine in an April 16 decision, ruling the Crown had not proved her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Crede died on July 25, 2020, after splitting a gram of MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, with his 33-year-old girlfriend, Chrissy Nepinak (who testified at the trial but is not identified by name in Leven's decision).

In her March 25 testimony, Nepinak said Crede shook and foamed at the mouth after taking the drugs, and later became unresponsive. 

A toxicologist testified that Crede had "very, very, very high" levels of MDA in his blood. The body breaks down MDMA into MDA, a related substance within the amphetamine family that can have greater hallucinogenic and stimulant effects.

There were no other apparent causes of death, Leven wrote, and the pathologist told court Crede's cause of death was a drug overdose.

Nepinak testified she bought the drugs from Lepine, claiming Lepine knew the drugs to be dangerous but sold them anyway. 

Lepine told the court that never happened. 

"Have I ever sold a drug to anyone? No," Lepine said on the last day of her trial. 

In his decision, Leven wrote he did not find Nepinak to be a "credible or reliable witness," adding she demonstrated "extremely poor judgment" by not calling 911 or driving Crede to the hospital. 

Leven questioned Nepinak's claims that she arranged to buy the drugs from Lepine using Facebook Messenger, noting there was "no physical evidence (e.g. text messages) contradicting anything [Lepine] said."

Lepine told court she occasionally used text messages to buy drugs herself, but claimed she didn't have any messages from 2020. She said she never texted or saw Nepinak the day Crede died. 

Nepinak told the court she deleted the messages about buying drugs out of habit. 

Leven also noted Lepine freely admitted to using marijuana, cocaine and magic mushrooms, which "bolstered her credibility to some extent."

In his decision, Leven wrote he found Nepinak to be "dishonest" when she initially told police the drugs had come from a "friend of a friend," a response he wrote was "calculated to hide something from the police."

She testified she didn't initially want to give police a name, but changed her mind when they told her she could help prevent more deaths by telling them where the drugs came from.

Leven's decision, though, said "a more plausible explanation is that, when she realized that the police were intent on pursuing the subject, [Nepinak] realized that her 'friend of a friend' answer would no longer be sufficient, and she had to provide a name. 

"The first name that came to mind was that of the accused."

Leven's decision noted that Lepine had dated Nepinak's brother but they had a bad breakup in mid-2020. Lepine claimed he had sold drugs at the time, and that she had previously shared drugs with him and Nepinak. 

"Providing the name of the accused was a convenient solution to a difficult problem," Leven wrote. 

"Considering the credible evidence of the accused along with the less credible evidence of [Nepinak], there is obviously a reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused," he ruled, acquitting Levine of the charges.