Man charged in Shawnee teen's fentanyl poisoning death found not guilty by jury

The man charged in a Shawnee teen’s fentanyl poisoning death has been found not guilty by a Johnson County jury.

After more than two hours of deliberating, the jury found Aaron Hansberry, 29, not guilty of distribution of a controlled substance causing great bodily harm or death charges on Thursday.

In October, the KSHB 41 I-Team learned Hansberry was arrested and charged in connection to 16-year-old Cooper Davis’ death.

Cooper’s family said he died after taking half of what he thought was a Percocet pill in August of 2021. It turned out to be a fake that contained fentanyl.

Court documents previously obtained by the I-Team, along with Cooper's friends and girlfriend, testified to him meeting Hansberry outside of a store in Kansas City, Missouri, in August of 2021, then going to a house to buy synthetic marijuana.

At some point on the drive back, Cooper's friends and court documents said Hansberry also sold the group two blue pills they thought were Percocet.

The group went back to a friend's house to split the pills in Shawnee. Cooper's friends survived, but Cooper did not.

Cooper was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Johnson County Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy on Cooper and discovered his cause of death was acute fentanyl toxicity.

Hansberry's attorney did not have a statement to share following Thursday's verdict.

The I-Team has reached out to Cooper's family and will update this story if they have a response to the verdict.

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