Chattanooga heroin dealer agrees to spend 23 years in prison after deadly overdose

Darius Blakemore
Darius Blakemore

A Chattanooga man agreed Wednesday in the middle of his federal trial to spend 23 years in federal prison for selling a batch of heroin that killed a Drug Court graduate.

U.S. District Judge Harry "Sandy" Mattice will decide whether to accept Darius Blakemore's plea agreement during his sentencing hearing on Oct. 23.

Prosecutors say Blakemore, 28, sold $200 worth of heroin to Jessica Rachels and had one of his runners, Joshua Corbett, deliver it to her in a McDonald's parking lot on Rossville Boulevard on Feb. 22, 2016. There, Rachels passed the heroin to her passenger, 24-year-old Logan Whiteaker, who had graduated that afternoon from Hamilton County Drug Court, an alternative sentencing program that gives addicts a chance to recover outside of jail.

The next morning around 9, Red Bank police found him dead in his bathroom.

Using Whiteaker's cellphone, authorities traced the deal to Rachels and Corbett, who pleaded guilty to their involvement last fall and will be sentenced in July, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Porter said.

Authorities needed a few weeks to locate Blakemore, who was arrested on March 16, 2016, with a gun, some cocaine and heroin during a traffic stop on Shallowford Road. He was indicted on nine counts, primarily for knowingly possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to sell, conspiring with Corbett to distribute the drugs throughout early 2016, and then selling a batch that resulted in Whiteaker's death. He willingly spoke to Drug Enforcement Administration agents that day, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors, after the start of his trial Tuesday, said Blakemore could plead guilty to five counts if he waived his right to file a direct appeal. Between each charge, Blakemore faced life in prison. If Mattice accepts the plea agreement in October, his punishment will be 23 years.

Before negotiating the deal, prosecutors put on testimony from medical experts who explained Whiteaker died of a heroin overdose, as well as Whiteaker's stepfather. His mother, Dawn Harrison, was expected to testify last.

Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.

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