William J. Derrick

An inmate of Butler County Prison who was charged in connection to the overdose death of his cellmate waived his preliminary hearing Monday, March 11.

William J. Derrick, 43, waived the hearing on a charge of felony contraband in relation to the Nov. 22 death of Alec Miller, 23, in his prison cell. Derrick appeared before District Judge William Fullerton and was represented by attorney Armand Cingolani.

Derrick and two other inmates — Qualin A. Davis, 41, and Robert Bowser II, 23 — were charged in January. Miller’s cause of death was listed as fentanyl poisoning, according to a document from the Butler County Coroner’s office. His manner of death was listed as undetermined.

Court documents indicate Davis, who was housed alone in the cell next to Miller’s, had smuggled 16.32 grams of fentanyl into the jail when he was processed Nov. 19 — two days after a jury found Miller guilty of first-degree murder for shooting and killing Maximillian W. Halterman, 23, in March 2019.

Davis’ hearing was held Feb. 12 and resulted in felony charges of drug delivery resulting in death, five counts of contraband and four counts of drug sales proceeding to the Court of Common Pleas.

During the hearing, detectives said they found two rolled pieces of paper, a bag containing smaller bags of a brown substance and a plastic bag of 109 suspected fentanyl pills in Davis’ cell.

Detectives said they found a rolled piece of paper and a brown substance in a black sock in the cell Miller and Derrick shared.

Bowser’s hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Alec Miller