A 64-year-old Crossville man has been sentenced to 15 years in state prison for delivering the fentanyl that killed 34-year-old Christopher Ray Hale back in July 2022, closing out a case that took federal, state, and local investigators nearly four years to bring to a courtroom. Michael Ralph Daignault pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and will serve the entire sentence at 100 percent, with no eligibility for early parole.
According to a statement from Bryant C. Dunaway, District Attorney, Daignault sold and delivered fentanyl to Hale, who then ingested the drug and died of an overdose. Daignault appeared before the Criminal Court in Cumberland County to enter his plea, and prosecutors say the case illustrates why they scrutinize overdose deaths so closely. “Prosecutors evaluate overdose death cases carefully,” the district attorney's office said, noting that such cases “can be difficult to prove and prosecute.” Officials framed the prosecution as a deterrent, stating that holding suppliers accountable is meant to discourage the continued sale of illegal drugs that, in the case of fentanyl, can be lethal whether taken alone or mixed with other substances.
A Guilty Plea Filed Days Before Public Announcement
Daignault actually entered his guilty plea on August 4, six days before Dunaway's office made the case public, according to 3B Media News. He entered the plea before Judge Gary McKenzie. As part of the negotiated deal, two underlying drug charges from his original indictment — sale of fentanyl and delivery of fentanyl — were dismissed, and he received credit for 922 days already spent in pre-trial detention, the outlet reported.
Investigators determined that Daignault distributed the fatal dose to Hale sometime between July 23 and July 24, 2022, and an autopsy found Hale died from the combined toxic effects of fentanyl and ethanol, per the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Hale, a Crossville resident born in 1990, purchased the fentanyl directly from Daignault, according to Dunaway's statement. Cumberland County Sheriff's Office investigator Anthony Loshbough and TBI Special Agent Billy Miller worked the case, while Assistant District Attorney Philip Hatch prosecuted it.
Indictment, Extradition, and a Wider Supply Chain
A Cumberland County grand jury indicted Daignault on January 8, 2024, on charges of second-degree murder, sale of fentanyl, and delivery of fentanyl. He was later apprehended in North Carolina and extradited back to Tennessee on a $500,000 bond to face trial, the TBI said. The joint investigation between the sheriff's office and TBI didn't stop with Daignault — agents also identified two co-defendants, Jerrica Marie Hayes and Frazier Norris, who were indicted that same month on four felony drug counts each for allegedly supplying the fentanyl to Daignault before it reached Hale, according to WBIR.
Hayes, 37, was tried first. A Cumberland County jury convicted her of second-degree murder in July 2024 in connection with the same supply chain, the Crossville Chronicle reported. That earlier conviction, paired with Daignault's plea two years later, points to a consistent strategy from Dunaway's office to pursue murder charges against everyone in the chain that put the fatal dose in Hale's hands, not just the person who handed it over last.
Public records and the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry show Daignault is a registered sex offender, with convictions for rape dating back to 1980 and 1981. He was 61 years old at the time of his initial 2024 arrest, according to 3B Media News.
Why Tennessee Can Charge Dealers With Murder
The prosecution leaned on Tennessee Code § 39-13-210, which classifies the unlawful distribution or delivery of fentanyl or carfentanil that proximately causes a death as second-degree murder — a Class A felony — according to Justia Law. Crucially, prosecutors do not have to prove malice or intent to kill under that statute, only that the delivery caused the death. State sentencing rules also mandate that anyone convicted of Class A felony second-degree murder serve the full term in custody, which is why Daignault's 15 years cannot be shortened by parole.
The case adds to a string of Cumberland County prosecutions overseen by Dunaway's office in recent months, following Hoodline's earlier coverage of a Fairfield Glade shooting arrest and a Rockwood murder indictment in the same judicial district.
A Statewide Overdose Picture
Tennessee Department of Health data shows the state recorded 3,616 drug overdose deaths in 2023, a 5.5 percent decrease from 3,826 the year before and the state's first annual decline in more than a decade. Even with that drop, opioids remained involved in more than 80 percent of all overdose fatalities statewide, underscoring why fentanyl-death prosecutions like Daignault's remain a priority for district attorneys across Tennessee.
