No criminal charges to be made over Prince’s death

After a two year investigation, the prosecutor in Minnesota’s Carver County has declared that no criminal charges will be laid over the death of music icon Prince.

The 57-year-old was found unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio compound on April 21, 2016.

An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin.

“He had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him,” Carver County attorney Mark Metz told a press conference.

“Prince’s death is a tragic example that opioid addiction and overdose deaths do not discriminate, no matter the demographic.”

Fentanyl is reportedly the new drug of choice for US musicians.

Metz had, along with federal authorities, intended to find out how Prince got the fentanyl.

The investigation included searches of Paisley Park, mobile phone records of associates and the musician’s emails.

Authorities claim they found counterfeit pills in the house contained fentanyl.

But they failed to find out how the fentanyl got to him.

According to Merz claims, evidence showed that the superstar and his team had thought he was getting Vicodin.

Although claiming to be clean living, Prince’s intense performances made him addicted to painkillers.

Prosecutors alleged that his physician Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg wrote a prescription for oxycodone on April 14 2016, in the name of Prince’s bodyguard Kirk Johnson, for it to be passed on to Prince.

Federal authorities chased him for contravening the Controlled Substances Act as a result.

He reportedly agreed to pay $30,000 recently, but his lawyer insists it was to avoid the glare of publicity and the uncertainty of the result of a court trial.

It is not known if the US Attorney’s Office has also closed the case on Prince’s death.

CNN quoted Prince hair stylist Kim Berry as saying she was surprised  no criminal charges had been laid.

“That person or the people responsible for it will have to answer to God,” she said.