Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A 22-year-old Tyler woman was convicted Wednesday of possessing hundreds of illegal prescription pills when police searched her apartment after her baby drowned in her bathtub.

Elizabeth “Beth” Marie McMurray was initially charged with possessing with the intent to deliver 182 pills of OxyContin, a pain reliever. She faced up to life in prison for the charge.

But after less than two hours of deliberation, a Smith County jury in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.’s court instead found her guilty of the lesser-included charge of possessing a controlled substance, for which she faces up to 20 years in prison. The punishment trial will begin Thursday.

The defendant testified she dated Robert Kassube for about eight months and lived with him for about three months before the Jan. 12 incident. She said she did not know the large bag of prescription pills was in the apartment and said she never went into Kassube’s nightstand, where they were found by police. She said if she knew they were there, she would have gotten rid of them.

She had looked in the nightstand only once, months before, and found matches, lighters, Army knives and figurines; no drugs, she said. The loose pills found in her wooden box in her nightstand were over-the-counter medicines she had bought, she said, adding that two days before they were still in their bottles and she didn’t know how they became loose in her box.

Ms. McMurray said she never saw Kassube sell drugs to anyone and she never sold any.

She said she was in charge of the apartment and cleaned it and took care of her two children while Kassube worked doing odd jobs, such as remodeling houses. Ms. McMurray said she was careful about what was around the house and kept harmful things out of the reach of children.

Ms. McMurray said she was aware Kassube had been arrested the night of Jan. 11 for possessing a controlled substance and evading arrest. She said she was shocked to learn he possessed drugs.

Police officers testified about being called out to the apartment on Thistle Drive in response to the drowning of Ms. McMurray’s 9-month-old son in the bathtub. After getting consent to search the apartment, officers found hundreds of prescription pills without prescriptions and found the apartment in filthy condition.

An undercover Tyler police narcotics investigator said the fact that there was such a large amount of assorted pills with no prescriptions and stored in bags told him “somebody was selling pills out of this apartment.”

Assistant Smith County District Attorney Zach Davis said the evidence shows the drugs were meant for sale. He said Ms. McMurray knew they were in the apartment.
She and her two babies moved in with Kassube and she didn’t work, but was in charge of the apartment; which was in a filthy condition. He said she knew Kassube worked odd jobs.

“She knew what was going on,” Davis said, referring to drugs being sold out of the apartment. “She knew where those funds were coming from.”

He said the pills were worth at least $1,500 and as much as $3,000.

“She lived on the proceeds of this,” he said, holding up the bag of pills.

Davis asked the jurors to find her guilty of possessing the drugs with the intent to deliver.

Defense attorney Tab Lawhorn said the evidence showed his client did not use drugs and that she did not know the prescription pills were in the nightstand used by Kassube.

“Possession of something without knowledge is not possession,” he said.

“They’re wanting to pin (Kassube’s) dope on her,” he said. “And that’s what this case is all about.”

He said having a filthy house didn’t make her guilty of the offense.

Regarding the defendant’s testimony, Lawhorn said, “I think this girl is shooting you straight, I really do.” He asked the jury to find her not guilty.

Ms. McMurray and Kassube, 46, have been indicted for manslaughter for the death of their 9-month-old son who drowned to death in their bathtub. They await trial on that charge.

The couple has also been indicted for endangering a child, as well as possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance.

On Jan. 11, Kassube allegedly hit a box truck on South Broadway Avenue and led officers on a car chase in southeast Tyler. He was arrested for evading arrest, possession of a controlled substance, driving while intoxicated and causing an accident involving damage to a vehicle. The day after Kassube bonded out of jail, Joshua drowned to death.

Elizabeth “Beth” Marie McMurray
(File photo)