Judge delays sentencing of man who distributed fentanyl to Arizona teen who died

PHOENIX - It was a packed room in a Federal court on Oct. 10, as the man accused of distributing fentanyl laced pills was supposed to be sentenced in the death of an Arizona teen.

However, after an overwhelming amount of witness testimony from the victim's family, and others, the presiding judge ultimately delayed the sentencing for Michael Allen Fox, this time to November.

Fox was charged with distributing fentanyl-laced pills to a 16-year-old named Hannah Elizabeth Pairrett, who died after using the pills. According to court records, Hannah used her boyfriend's phone to ask Fox for Percocet in June 2019. She got three pills delivered, took one, and fell unconscious about an hour later.

"She didn’t know it was going to be her last day, and I don’t even consider it an overdose," said the teen's mother, Danya Pairrett Ayers. "I felt like it was a poisoning. She was poisoned."

One of the people who took the witness stand on Oct. 10 was Kevin Horn with the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office. Horn said within the last couple of years, 30% to 40% of the exams he performed involve drug intoxications, and almost exclusively fentanyl. He told the court his exam concluded that Hannah died from a fentanyl overdose.

Victim's mother speaks out

Danya said the last four years have been torture, as she dealt with the loss of her daughter, along with court delays brought on by COVID-19.

"We waited for over four years, and I think that is just way too long. Way too long to have to wait for some kind of justice for somebody," said Danya.

However, Danya said she considers herself lucky to ‘know the person who is responsible,’ and she hopes that justice be served.

That is something many victims don’t ever get.

"Some of these people that are coming never got justice for their loved ones, and they want to see justice start happening, and they want to see changes too," said Danya. "We can make some changes to our laws and help get these guys off the streets because for us, it’s murder. We feel like our daughter was murdered."

The victim's family hopes this case will pave the way for others to get the justice and attention they deserve.

"Nothing's going to bring [Hannah] back, so no amount of time [Fox] gets is going to be enough for us, because it’s not going to bring her back, but we are fortunate because not very many of these cases get this far. There’s so many out there that don’t ever get this opportunity," said Danya.