The charge against a Minot man accused of delivering a lethal fentanyl mixture connected to a 2021 overdose death has been dismissed at the request of the Ward County State’s Attorney’s Office after the discovery of “conflicting information” related to the victim’s cause of death.

Jacob William Meyer, 37, Minot, had been charged with a Class A felony delivery of fentanyl in July of 2022, nine months after the man called John Doe in court documents overdosed. Assistant Ward County State’s Attorney Tina Snellings told North Central District Judge Stacy Louser at Meyer’s initial appearance that the delay was due to law enforcement taking time to build a solid case. While court documents indicated investigators had evidence of communications allegedly between Meyer and the victim discussing the purchase of the illicit substance, Snellings would go on to file a motion to dismiss with the court on Feb. 22.

“There were some problems with the case,” Meyer’s defense attorney Ashley Gulke said. “If I were them I would have been concerned.”

In the motion, Snellings explained the decision to dismiss was due to inconsistencies within the toxicology report, bringing the victim’s cause of death into question.

The case had been reassigned to Snellings after the original charging attorney experienced an injury that prohibited working and later resigned. The dismissal came after Snellings conducted a full review of the case, which revealed that the toxicology report included in the file was an amended one and didn’t include the original report from the coroner. However, Snellings said she eventually was able to obtain and review the original report as well as an additional amended report that also was not included in the file.

The toxicology report referenced in the affidavit of probable cause signed by former Minot Police Investigator Mikali Talbott was reviewed by coroner Dr. Scott Knutson with Trinity Hospital, who said there was “a large amount of fentanyl located in John Doe’s system.” It is unclear which of the three versions of the toxicology report is referenced in the affidavit.

Snellings’ review found what she called “conflicting information” in the three reports, leading her to conclude that “this along with other concerns about the State’s case bring the entire case into doubt warranting a dismissal of this charge.”

The family members of John Doe were notified of the decision to dismiss the case and were understanding of the prosecutor’s reasons, according to Snellings. Louser would grant the motion to dismiss without prejudice, which ended the proceedings but left the door open for charges to be refiled in the future. Snellings would not comment further regarding the concerns mentioned in her motion but said the file had been returned to law enforcement for further investigation.