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Sailor gets 5½ years for heroin death

A junior sailor was sentenced to five and a half years in the brig Wednesday for negligent homicide after he was convicted of abandoning another sailor who was dying of a drug overdose outside a motel near Great Lakes, Ill.

During general court-martial, Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) Fireman Justin McMurrin, 26, was convicted in the death of Machinist’s Mate Fireman Recruit James Stephens, 20. Stevens was found dead outside a motel July 20.

Stephens’ death was one of three heroin-related fatalities among sailors or recruits near Great Lakes last year.

While on liberty, McMurrin left Stephens “alone in a semi-conscious state outside the Crossland Economy Studios Motel in Waukegan, Ill.,” according to court documents.

The death was a “reasonably foreseeable consequence of Fireman McMurrin’s failure to request medical assistance and concealing the location of Fireman Recruit Stephens,” according to court documents.

McMurrin also hid Stephens’ cell phone and lied to a local police detective who was investigating the death, court records show.

After a three-day trial in a Great Lakes courtroom, McMurrin was convicted of negligent homicide, wrongful use of drugs, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and failure to obey an order, court documents show.

His rank will be reduced to E-1 and he will be dishonorably discharged, said Ken Cronk, a spokesman at Great Lakes.

McMurrin was assigned to the Center for Naval Excellence Learning Site at Great Lakes. He advanced to E-3 in December, Navy records show.

Autopsy reports showed Stephens consumed a lethal combination of heroin, cocaine and anti-anxiety medication.

Other heroin-related deaths from Naval Station Great Lakes included Seaman Recruit Owen Martinez, 18, who died March 3, 2008.

In Martinez’s death, local prosecutors in Illinois have charged Kelton Lewis, 24, with drug-induced homicide, and the case is pending in state court, according to Lake County prosecutor Stephen Derue.

Damage Controlman Fireman Apprentice Michael Falzone, 24, died June 7, 2008, in a heroin-related incident, according to the Naval Station Great Lakes base newspaper.

Heroin is typically not a popular drug among sailors. Opiates, which includes heroin, account for less than 7 percent of drug tests that turn up positive, according to Navy officials.

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