A drug-induced homicide trial enters its fifth day in Mercer County Circuit Court on Friday.
On Thursday, Mercer County Sheriff’s Department Detective Anthony Baugh testified. During his testimony, video and audio were played involving the defendant, 43-year-old Dale Robert Woodsmall of New Boston, who’s facing a Class X felony count of drug-induced homicide and two Class 2 felony counts of methamphetamine delivery in the May 2024 death of 26-year-old Blake Russell of Joy.
The video was from the detective’s initial interview with Woodsmall on the day of his July 2024 arrest. When questioned that day, Woodsmall initailly denied selling meth to Russell and another man on the day of Russell’s death, but eventually admitted to selling it and using it with the two. He also claimed to have bought the meth he sold to the pair from someone else.
Two audio recordings were then played. Both were phone calls involving Woodsmall while in custody at the Mercer County Jail last August. In the second phone call, he can be heard crying and telling the person he’s talking to that he wants to apologize to Russell’s family.
Woodsmall’s attorney, William Breedlove, told the jury in his opening statement on Tuesday that he expected them to find Woodsmall guilty of the delivery charges, but not the drug-induced homicide charge.
If convicted of the drug-induced homicide charge, Woodsmall would face up to 30 years in prison. He’s been in police custody since his arrest.