ASHEVILLE – After a day of deliberation over a partially absent defendant, a Buncombe County jury found an Asheville mother guilty of involuntary manslaughter for her child’s fentanyl-related death — an issue a state taskforce said “remained high” in 2023.
Samantha Lynn Higgins, 32, of Asheville, was on trial in Buncombe County Superior Court after her 8-month-old daughter ingested or had contact with fentanyl while living in “an environment where the juvenile had access to and contact with” the drug, police said in an arrest warrant.
Asheville Police Department detectives began investigating on Sept. 8, 2022, when the child was taken to Mission Hospital. Three days later, the infant was pronounced dead…