Release date set for woman convicted in overdose death

Release date set for woman convicted in overdose death

(Carbon County Jail)


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UTAH STATE PRISON — A woman sent to prison for providing drugs to a man who fatally overdosed but then did nothing to help him will be released in September.

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has set a parole date for Alejandra "Ally" Dunn for Sept. 26. She may be released earlier if an interstate compact can be arranged. Dunn has said she wants to move to Montana to live with her parents and daughter.

In 2014, Dunn pleaded guilty to manslaughter and drug distribution and was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

The sentence stemmed from an incident in 2013 when Dunn was with Anthony Joseph Compton, 38, at his Price residence. On that night, she provided Compton with oxymorphone, a semi-synthetic prescription painkiller.

During her recent parole hearing, Dunn, now 30, recounted how Compton had called her prior to that night asking if he could buy pills from her, which he had done in the past.

That night, Dunn went to Compton's residence along with her 4-year-old daughter. She, too, was addicted to drugs at the time, she said in an audio recording of the hearing.

At some point during the night, after Compton had taken the pills, Dunn knew something about him was off.

"I knew that something was wrong, and I was scared,” she said.

Rather than sticking around to see what would happen or notify anyone what was going on, Dunn said she "left and didn’t try to get help."

She found out the next morning that Compton had died.

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"Shock and then guilt, because I knew it was my fault and I was just trying to deny it,” Dunn said was her reaction when she heard the news.

Even before she found out that he had died, Dunn sent a text message to a friend after she left Compton's house and said she knew something wasn't right.

When asked to look back at herself on that night, Dunn said the person who sent that text was "scared and selfish” and "someone that I’m ashamed of."

She said it was "sickening” for her to think about the times she would bring her daughter with her to buy drugs, and then drop her off so she could go use them.

Dunn said she never thought about what would happen if the person she sold drugs to would overdose.

Now, after more than three years of being incarcerated, Dunn said she has had time to get sober and think about what happened.

"I regret it. Regret everything. I regret bringing my daughter with me. I regret leaving him. I regret wanting to impress him. I regret everything because he didn’t have to lose his life,” she said.

But Dunn also believes that being caught and sent to prison has been beneficial.


Coming to prison has made me a better person than before I started using drugs.

–Alejandra "Ally" Dunn


"Coming to prison has made me a better person than before I started using drugs,” she said.

Because of the life skills classes she has taken while incarcerated, Dunn said she can handle situations today that she may not have been able to properly handle even before becoming hooked on drugs. And she wants Compton's family to know that.

"I would tell them, first of all, how sorry I am, of course. I’m grateful for them, too, because all they wanted was for me to get better," she said. "I learned so much, and I’m sorry — very sorry. I was too scared and selfish to do anything about it."

Dunn's daughter is now 7 and lives with Dunn's parents in Montana. After being released from prison, Dunn said she plans to rejoin her family there.

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Pat Reavy

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