MINNEAPOLIS - A man already serving time in federal prison for drug possession pleaded guilty in Hennepin County Court to a third-degree murder charge, admitting to selling the heroin that killed a young Medina man.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Jaime McClellan was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison, for aiding and abetting third-degree murder when he sold the heroin that ultimately caused the overdose death of 24-year-old Alex Milun back in 2015.
The 11-year sentence will be served concurrently with the 15-year prison sentence McClellan is already serving in a federal prison in Kentucky for a drug possession conviction.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, McClellan admitted in court he sold heroin to a man he knew back in October of 2015. McClellan also admitted knowing the purchaser was a drug dealer and that at least some of the drugs that killed Milun came from McClellan, according to court records.
Milun was found dead in his bedroom the next day surrounded by heroin paraphernalia.
Police tracked down the man who purchased the heroin, who said he was a good friend of Milun, and they often bought and injected heroin together, according to the criminal complaint.
The purchaser who bought the heroin from McClellan warned Milun to be careful because it was 'particularly potent,' court documents showed.
Anoka County sheriff's investigators had been looking into McClellan after another heroin overdose in their county. Investigators made controlled drug buys from McClellan and arrested him for selling heroin in December 2015, which led to the 15-year sentence.
In return for McClellan's guilty plea in Hennepin County, Anoka County agreed to drop its third-degree murder case against him in the heroin death there.
Now at the end of a two-year journey through federal and state courts, Milun's family called for more accountability for the manufacturers and distributors connected to the opioid epidemic, a system they believe profited off their son's death.
“They profit off the disenfranchised, the addicts. I would like to see the top of the food chain, pushers in suits, big pharma, some doctors, some politicians, I would like to see the same thing to happen with them,” said Kirsten Milun, his mother.
Kirsten Milun read victim impact statements from the family and told McClellan they forgive his actions.
“I wanted Jamie McClellan to know if Alex were here, he would say you can do better, and you have a life, and when you have a life, you can forward and change things and make that choice. We hold forgiveness in our hearts for Jamie and we just hope we will do better things inside prison walls and outside prison walls,” said Kirsten Milun.
McClellan apologized for the harm he caused the Milun family and said his life has been hard, that he had no loving parents and he was once shot in the head.
“I'm working on bettering myself. I live with this every day,” said McClellan.
The Milun family ended the sentencing hearing with the same message that has carried them through two years of unimaginable grief.
“Go and do some good,” Milun read from her husband's statement.
