A San Diego man who distributed fentanyl to a Carlsbad woman, leading to her fatal overdose, was sentenced Friday to 20 years in federal prison.
Bryan Kim Bullard pleaded guilty to providing
fentanyl
to the 25-year-old victim, Danielle Good.
Emergency responders found the woman unconscious in the bathtub of a San Diego apartment just after midnight on Sept. 10, 2023. She was hospitalized, but remained comatose and was taken off life support five days later.
Prosecutors said in a news release that after Good fell unconscious, Bullard, who was present at the apartment, initiated casual conversations with various people over Facebook and sent some of them videos he had recorded of the victim in the tub.
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Jill Streja told the court that Bullard showed “extreme indifference and callous disregard” for Good.
About an hour later, he called 911 from the victim’s phone, then fled the unit.
He was arrested about two months later. Prosecutors alleged he had continued to sell fentanyl despite the victim’s death.
Bullard’s defense attorney, Ryan Mardock, had asked for a nine-year sentence, arguing that his client did not sell Good the drugs, but merely used them with her that night.
Mardock argued that Bullard’s co-defendant, Cameron William Fulston, had arranged the distribution and sale of drugs to the victim. Prosecutors, though, argue that Fulston brokered deals so Bullard could sell drugs to clients.
Fulston is charged in the case and awaits trial.
Mardock said his client did not immediately call 911 because he was a longtime addict who was familiar with fentanyl and believed he could assist the victim on his own.
The attorney also argued the amount of drugs Good took was much less than typically seen in fatal overdoses, making Bullard’s conduct less reckless than other cases.
Bullard said in a statement in court, “At no point, did I think an overdose was possible.”
Later, he stated to U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant and the victim’s family, “I need you to know what happened was an accident. I’m an addict, not a monster.”
Streja agreed that the amount of fentanyl Good consumed was relatively small, but described it as “surprising and terrifying” and said it pointed further to the dangers of fentanyl use.
Good’s mother and two of her sisters spoke during Bullard’s sentencing hearing and brought the victim’s ashes to court in an urn.
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Her mother said Good had left home that night and was only supposed to be gone for a couple of hours, but never returned home. Her loved ones described frantically calling other family members, friends, and hospitals on the night Good went missing, only to later find that she had been declared brain dead.
One of her sisters said the sight of Good in the hospital was “a nightmare that I cannot get out of my head.”
Another sister chastised Bullard for “his lack of urgency” and “disturbingly casual” behavior after the overdose.
“Bryan gave her the fentanyl, and then made a choice. A cold, calculated and inhumane choice not to call for help,” she said.
