Pubdate: Wed, 27 Mar 2002
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E488423,00.html
Copyright: 2002 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Howard Pankratz

METH-LAB DEATHS LEAD TO CHARGES

Manslaughter Case A First In Colorado

Two men whose alleged manufacture of methamphetamine is suspected of 
causing an explosion that killed two women were ordered Tuesday to stand 
trial for manslaughter, the first case of its kind in Colorado.

Following a day-long preliminary hearing, Denver County Judge Ray Satter 
ordered Darryl Willis, 47, and James Campbell, 28, to face charges in the 
deaths of Pamela English and Tammy Marie Campbell, both 33.

The women were killed about 9:40 p.m. Jan. 16 in the explosion of an 
alleged methamphetamine lab in a duplex at 310 S. Lincoln St.

As meth labs proliferate across the U.S., prosecutors in states hard hit by 
the illegal drug production have started filing murder and manslaughter 
charges against meth operators when the labs explode.

Numerous murder cases against meth-lab operators have been successfully 
prosecuted in California. And in Kansas, Attorney General Carla Stover won 
a case last year against a meth lab operator whose meth partner was killed 
in an explosion near Lyons.

According to testimony Tuesday, a huge fireball enveloped the basement of 
the duplex where meth - commonly known as speed - was allegedly being 
manufactured.

Denver police Detective Teri Hays, who said she has inspected or raided 75 
meth labs in the last two years, testified that the labs are extremely 
dangerous because of the volatile and flammable ingredients used in meth 
manufacture.

"People take a real risk with not only their lives but the lives of others 
when they manufacture methamphetamines," she said.

Leon Beesley, a veteran investigator for the Denver Fire Department, 
testified that escape from such explosions is rare.

"It would be a very rapid fire, making escape about impossible," Beesley 
said. "It looks like a fireball. It's a huge rolling fireball."

Both Willis and Campbell escaped, but with burns.

The two women were found in a dirt crawl space, where they scrambled when 
vapor from a can of spilled Coleman lantern fuel - a key ingredient in 
making meth - was ignited by what investigators believe was the pilot light 
on a water heater.

The women died of smoke inhalation.

Campbell told investigators the can of Coleman fuel was accidentally 
knocked over, a flash fire followed and a "fireball engulfed the basement," 
said police Detective Frank Rino.

Rino said that Campbell was upset during the interview and had been crying.

The two women were good friends of Campbell and Willis.
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