North Port Woman Pleads Guilty to Distributing Oxycodone

Linda Kay Courtright of North Port pleaded guilty earlier this month in a Tampa federal court to distributing oxycodone, the use of which resulted in the 2009 death of Nicholas Block. Courtright faces a minimum mandatory term of 20 years in federal prison and up to life for that charge. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed not to pursue any additional federal charges against Courtright in the relevant incident.

According to the plea agreement, the North Port Police Department and emergency services responded to a motel room on June 19, 2009. The room was occupied by Courtright, her husband, Billy Jack Courtright, her 15-year-old son, Nicholas Block, and the Courtrights’ three other children, ages 10, 9, and 7. Nicholas was discovered dead on one of the hotel beds.

After an autopsy, the medical examiner determined that Nicholas’s cause of death was due to intoxication from oxycodone and that he also had cocaine and alprazolam (the generic name for Xanax) in his system. The day before, Nicholas has tested clean in a urinalysis related to a marijuana arrest.

Courtright ultimately admitted that, the night before Nicholas died, Billy Jack Courtright and Linda Courtright had provided him with the oxycodone that he had used and that had resulted in his death. In fact, the three had chopped up oxycodone pills and snorted them together.

The government intends to ask the sentencing court for three two-level upward adjustments to the advisory guideline sentencing calculation – for using a minor to commit a crime, for abusing a position of trust and for victim vulnerability. Conversely, prosecutors will also recommend two-level and one-level downward adjustments for acceptance of responsibility.

Billy Jack Courtright was also charged and has a change of plea hearing scheduled for later this month.