MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Grand Jury handed down a five-count indictment against Dennis Banbury Jr. on Monday, stemming from a June incident where a Knox County Jail inmate died from a drug overdose.
According to the Knox County Prosecutor’s Facebook posting, Banbury was indicted on one count of involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony for allegedly supplying the illegal narcotics that caused the death of Warren Bradford Taylor on June 3, 2017. Banbury was also indicted on one count of corrupting another with drugs, a second-degree felony.
In addition, Banbury was charged with one count of illegal conveyance of drugs into a detention facility, and two counts of aggravated possession of drugs for the allegations of bringing bulk quantities of methamphetamine and 3-Methylfentanyl into the jail. These three counts are all third-degree felonies.
According to Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville, Taylor was found unresponsive in a segregated unit of the jail where the only other prisoner being housed was Banbury. Taylor was taken to Knox Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A subsequent autopsy revealed Taylor died from a drug overdose.
Det. Lt. Craig Feeney, of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, led the investigation which led to the June 8 discovery of methamphetamine and 3-Methylfentanyl in the cell occupied by Banbury.
Officials say Banbury was booked into the jail on June 1 after a traffic stop by the Mount Vernon Police Department where narcotics were located.
McConville stated that the case underscores the deadly nature of fentanyl compounds that are becoming available in the area.
“Even minute amounts of fentanyl can be deadly, and certain officers who came into contact with the drugs involved in this case reported ill effects,” McConville said. “The case took months to prepare, with cooperation from the Coroner’s Office, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Mansfield Police Crime Laboratory.”
If convicted, Banbury faces 3 to 11 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, 2 to 8 years for corrupting another with drugs, and 9 to 36 months on each the conveyance and drug possession charges.
