Criminally Negligent Homicide Charges Against Duhon, Langham Dropped
Duhon Pleads Guilty to Possession of Controlled Substance
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – Criminally negligent homicide charges filed against Dylan Duhon and Ashley Langham in the 2020 death of David Dunn have been dismissed.
According to a statement provided by Houston County District Attorney Donna Kaspar, “On Jan. 4, 2022, Dylan Duhon pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance, a second-degree felony.”
Duhon had been charged with the possession of drugs and criminally negligent homicide after David Dunn was found dead in Duhon’s vehicle on the afternoon of July 14, 2020.
“The plea came after the District Attorney’s office determined that Mr. Duhon had removed a bag of drugs from the vehicle and hid them in his home after discovering Mr. Dunn and before law enforcement arrived. Deputies later found the drugs in his laundry room,” the DA stated.
The illegal drugs consisted of approximately 69 grams of marijuana, approximately 160 grams of Alprazolam (Xanax) and approximately 10 grams of Hydrocodone pills.
Ashley Langham was also charged with possession of a controlled substance and criminally negligent homicide but those charges were dismissed upon Mr. Duhon’s plea since she was not present when Mr. Duhon hid the drugs in their home, Kaspar indicated.
Duhon was placed on 10 years deferred adjudication probation for the drug possession and the criminally negligent homicide charge was dismissed upon his plea to the possession charge.
“Since the drugs were accessible to Mr. Dunn before Mr. Duhon returned and found him, I could not, with any certainty, determine when Mr. Dunn overdosed on the drugs and thus could not show that Mr. Duhon was negligent in leaving him in his vehicle that morning when he left for work,” the district attorney stated.
In an affidavit of probable cause filed at the time of the incident, it was stated Duhon and Langham had taken Dunn and Jaelyn Reed to Houston on the night of July 13, 2020 with the intent to purchase an unknown quantity of drugs.
“David and Jaelyn were in the backseat of the truck and it is believed they were passed out in the backseat when they arrived (back) in Grapeland at the residence,” the arrest report indicated. “It is believed David Dunn and Jaelyn Reed were left in the back seat that night.”
At the time of his initial arrest, Duhon stated Dunn and Reed had spent the night at his residence and when he left for work the next day, they were both asleep on the couch. Duhon also admitted they had all been taking Xanax the previous night.
It was later learned when Duhon got ready to leave for work the next morning, Dunn and Reed were still passed out in Duhon’s truck.
“Dylan got Ashley Langham to take him to work the next morning (in a different vehicle), leaving the two subjects in the truck, all day in the heat. Ashley Langham also stated she checked on the two subjects that morning and they were still asleep,” the affidavit reported.
When Duhon returned home from work “… he located his friends – unresponsive – in the truck’s back seat. Dylan stated he did not know how they ended up in the back seat of the truck.”
Dunn was pronounced dead at the scene while Reed was airlifted to a Tyler hospital. After several days of treatment Reed was released from the medical facility.
The affidavit went on to say, “It is believed Ashley was also responsible for leaving the subjects in the truck in the heat of the day. It is believed that leaving the subjects in the truck closed up in the heat, led to the death of David Dunn.”
According to the National Weather Service, the temperature reached a high of 98 degrees on July 14, 2020.
A week after Dunn’s death, Langham was taken into custody and booked into the Houston County Jail on the charge of criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony. Duhon was charged with the same offense two days later.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected]
