At drug dealer's sentencing, mother describes her 'crippling grief' over losing son to fentanyl overdose | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Terriana Audry Atkinson will appear in Douglas County District Court for her sentencing on Friday, September 20, 2024.

A mother who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose described her “crippling grief” to a Douglas County judge Friday morning as he handed down the sentence for the woman involved in the young man's death.

Christina Aldridge, the mother of Cameron Bricker, who died on December 9, 2022 at the age of 26 after purchasing pills from defendant Terriana Audry Atkinson, placed a framed photo of her son on the lectern as she addressed Judge Sally Pokorny.

“Not a day, hour or minute goes by that I don’t think of Cameron,” she said.

Aldridge spoke about her son's infectious smile, his “heart of gold” and his warm relationship with his 12-year-old little sister.

She then told the court about a scene that runs through her mind over and over again every day: the moment when she saw her son lying on the floor after the overdose, with rescue bandages on his chest. She was not allowed to touch him.

“He looked like he was sleeping,” she said. “I wanted to say, 'Wake up, wake up.'”

Cameron Bricker

Bricker's father, Gregory Bricker, did not speak in person but provided a written statement that was read aloud by Assistant District Attorney Samantha Foster.

Bricker described his close relationship with his son, their daily phone conversations, their shared love of cooking – Cameron had worked in several restaurants in the area – and his heartache that Cameron will never know the joys of fatherhood.

He described Atkinson's drug dealing as a “senseless and reckless act” that amounted to a “death sentence” for his son. He urged the court not to show any leniency.

“I hope you see the number of deaths caused by fentanyl,” he told the judge, who had the option under Kansas sentencing guidelines to give Atkinson a prison sentence or probation given his lack of prior convictions.

Pokorny opted for a suspended sentence, which the state did not object to, after hearing statements from the parties, including Atkinson herself, a 26-year-old mother of two, who tearfully apologized to Cameron's family.

Atkinson's lawyer Jessica Glendening told the court her client felt “significant remorse” and entered the world of drug dealing out of financial desperation as a distressed mother. She said Atkinson did not know the pills she was selling contained fentanyl – she thought it was oxycodone – and she was one of several people who gave Cameron pills before his overdose.

Atkinson was originally charged with distribution of a deadly substance, a serious crime that could have carried a minimum sentence of just over 12 years if convicted. However, in July she entered into a deal with the state and pleaded no contest to the lesser drug crime of distribution of a controlled substance.

Pokorny acknowledged the grief of Cameron's family, saying the loss of a child is an unimaginable pain, whether “you lose the child in the womb or when you are 90 years old and your child is 70.”

“Their pain is palpable,” she said.

However, she said the sentence she was due to hand down there on Friday was for a lesser offense, trafficking in controlled substances, which carries a prison sentence of 14 to 16 months, with the possibility of probation depending on the offender's criminal history.

“I try not to view the conviction as retaliation or purely punitive,” she said, stressing that she believes society would be better served if Atkinson received help outside of prison and her young children did not end up in state care.

Pokorny suspended a 15-month prison sentence for Atkinson and placed her on 18 months probation. Atkinson must register as a drug offender for 15 years.