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Convictions for drug trafficking resulting in death confirmed in Delaware County

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Indiana State Court of Appeals has upheld the convictions of two Muncie men who were involved in drug deals that resulted in fatal overdoses.

In August 2023, a jury in Delaware's Third District Court found Joel D. West, now 33, guilty of trafficking in a controlled substance resulting in death, a Level 1 felony.

West was arrested by Yorktown police in February 2019, weeks after he sold meth to a 26-year-old Yorktown man who subsequently died of an overdose.

Judge Linda Ralu Wolf later sentenced West to 35 years in prison.

At the appeal hearing, the Muncie man argued that there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

However, the Indiana State Court of Appeals recently upheld West's conviction in a 3-0 decision.

“His argument is a request to re-evaluate the evidence supporting the jury's conclusion, and we cannot grant that request,” wrote Chief Judge John G. Baker in his opinion.

In another recent ruling – decided by a 2-1 vote – a state appeals panel upheld the conviction of Michael Tyler Schoeff, now 39, of Muncie for drug trafficking resulting in death.

Prosecutors said Schoeff was involved in the incidents in which his girlfriend sold heroin to a local woman who then died of an overdose in 2020.

At a trial in August 2022, a jury in Delaware's Fourth District Court failed to reach a verdict on the drug trafficking resulting in death case, but found the Muncie man guilty of conspiracy to traffic narcotics.

In a second trial in April 2023, a jury found Schoeff guilty of aiding, abetting, or causing the trafficking of a controlled substance resulting in death.

Judge John Feick imposed a 44-year prison sentence: 32 years for the capital murder conviction and 12 years because Schoeff was classified as a habitual offender.

Schoeff's conviction was upheld in a recent ruling supported by two of three judges.

However, in a dissenting opinion, the third member of the appeals panel, Judge Paul Mathias, said he agreed with Schoeff's claim that he should not have been tried a second time for drug trafficking resulting in death.

Schoeff's girlfriend, Vera Renee Morgan, now 35, was found guilty of trafficking in controlled substances resulting in death at the end of a trial in August 2020. Feick later sentenced her to 40 years in prison.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Reach him at 765-213-5851 or [email protected].

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