Man who gave drugs to teen killers not charged with murder

<p>A man accused of giving marijuana laced with cocaine to two girls the night before they stabbed to death one of the girls' elderly grandparents is not being charged with murder for now, Fayette County authorities said Friday.</p><p>"There's just no way we can make a felony murder charge out," Chief Assistant District Attorney Al Dixon said Friday.</p><p>Calvin Lawson, 41, of Union City, was arrested Thursday afternoon on suspicion of felony murder soon after Holly Harvey told a judge that she and her former friend, Sandy Ketchum, spent the night before the killings at Lawson's house and used drugs supplied by him.</p><p>Felony murder is defined as anyone who commits, or is found to be involved in, a serious crime during which any person dies.</p><p>According to Harvey, the man dropped the girls off at her grandparents' house the next morning, on Aug. 2. Later that afternoon, the girls stabbed and killed 74-year-old Carl Collier and his 73-year-old wife Sarah.</p><p>Harvey recounted the details of the killings as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.</p><p>She and Ketchum, who were 15 and 16 at the time of the stabbings, pleaded guilty to the killings Thursday and both were sentenced to prison. Harvey must serve at least 20 years of two consecutive life sentences. Ketchum was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences and could be eligible for parole in 14 years.</p><p>Fayette County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lt. Belinda McCastle confirmed there is not enough evidence to indict Lawson for felony murder. Instead, he is charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of distributing obscene material to a minor, all misdemeanors.</p><p>The maximum penalty for each charge is a year in prison.</p><p>McCastle said the sheriff's office will revisit a murder charge against Lawson in July, when the Fayette County grand jury goes into session.</p><p>"We wanted to find more evidence to corroborate the girl's story," McCastle said.</p><p>Lawson's attorney, Maurice Bennett, said in a statement issued Friday that he was pleased with the reduced charges. A $3,600 property bond or $1,950 cash bond was set for Lawson on Friday, who had remained at the Fayette County Jail by evening.</p>