He avoided a murder charge after a friend overdosed in his home. He won't avoid prison.

Hannah Phillips and Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post
Updated ·4 min read

UPDATE: Oct. 30, 2023

Circuit Judge Caroline Shepherd sentenced Tad Colby Johnson to two concurrent 15-year prison terms and a concurrent one-year term during a hearing at the Palm Beach County Courthouse. Jurors in May convicted Johnson of three charges in the January 2020 death of Lacey Eichner at Johnson's home near Palm Beach Gardens: culpable negligence, abusing a corpse and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Shepherd denied a defense motion for a downward departure from the minimum sentencing guideline of five years.

The court credited Johnson with three years and nine months of time served while awaiting trial and since his conviction.

Original story:

WEST PALM BEACH — An intoxicated Palm Beach Gardens-area carpenter who found his friend dying of a drug overdose said he pushed ice into her body to "shock her back to life." When that didn't work, he covered her with a quilt to let her die in dignity instead.

Prosecutors blamed Tad Colby Johnson for Lacey Eichner's death, urging a jury to convict him of third-degree felony murder and manslaughter at the conclusion of a four-day trial this month. Jurors deliberated for an hour and opted for culpable negligence, a lesser charge.

Though they swayed from prosecutors' first two counts against Johnson, jurors found him guilty as charged Thursday for abusing Eichner's corpse and for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Their verdict followed days of testimony about the 35-year-old Eichner's time in Johnson's home, littered about with carpentry tools and bottles of painkillers. Not even Johnson could say with certainty what happened during her final hours alive, but attorneys did their best to fill in the gaps.

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State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts told jurors that Tad Colby Johnson was responsible for Lacey Eichner's death because he didn't call 911 when he found her overdosing in his bedroom.
State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts told jurors that Tad Colby Johnson was responsible for Lacey Eichner's death because he didn't call 911 when he found her overdosing in his bedroom.

Tad Colby Johnson never called 911 during friend's overdose

Eichner and Johnson were good friends, said Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts. They both struggled with addiction. Johnson agreed to let Eichner spend the night at his home on Jan. 24, 2020, after she'd had a falling out with her boyfriend. He gave her his bedroom while he slept on the couch.

Eichner's father called police the next day to report his daughter missing. Deputies with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office tapped into the geolocation data of Eichner's Chevrolet Equinox SUV and tracked her to Johnson's home near Juno Beach. They knocked on the door for several minutes before the sound rousted Johnson out of a drunken stupor.

"She's in the bedroom," McRoberts said he told the deputy after opening the door. "She's dead."

Eichner had begun to mummify by the time the deputy pulled back the quilt covering her body, the prosecutor said. A medical examiner told jurors she had been dead for at least a day.

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Lawyer says Lacey Eichner might have died before Johnson found her

Assistant Public Defender Maurissa Rhiannon Jones called Eichner's death a "tragic accident" but not a crime. She spoke of Eichner's addiction in more detail than McRoberts, suggesting that the cocktail of synthetic drugs in her system might have resisted the life-saving effects of Narcan even if Johnson called 911.

Instead, he called a paramedic he knew, who Johnson said told him to insert ice cubes into Eichner's mouth and other parts of her body to revive her. Johnson followed the advice, though his friend denied ever giving it.

The paramedic told deputies that Johnson slurred his words so badly during their telephone call that he couldn't understand what he was saying. The carpenter called other friends in search of Narcan before driving to a nearby store to buy more ice when his freezer ran out. He forgot his wallet and returned home empty-handed.

Judge Caroline Shepherd of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit will sentence Tad Colby Johnson to prison for culpable negligence, abuse of a corpse and being a felon in possession of a firearm later this year.
Judge Caroline Shepherd of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit will sentence Tad Colby Johnson to prison for culpable negligence, abuse of a corpse and being a felon in possession of a firearm later this year.

"He kept drinking because he was scared," Jones said. " ... He was going to call the police, but he blacked out."

Johnson drank heavily to treat the pain of 18 herniated discs when his prescription painkillers didn't cut it, Jones said. Johnson could walk at the time of Eichner's death but has since been confined to a wheelchair because of his injuries.

The defense attorney urged the jury not to take his statements to investigators as fact. Johnson said Eichner was still alive when he discovered her on his way to the restroom, but he could have been too drunk to know the difference, Jones said.

"Lacey Eichner and Tad Johnson were imperfect people making imperfect choices," Jones said. "This doesn't mean either one of them is responsible for Lacey Eichner's death."

Johnson is scheduled to return to court in August to arrange a sentencing date.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Man who didn't call 911 for overdosing friend sentenced to prison