Drug Dealer Handed Life Sentence for Co-Ed's Death

McDaniel handed life sentence without parole

A convicted drug dealer found responsible for the death of an SMU co-ed will spend the rest of his life in prison.

James McDaniel, 48, was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for his role in the death of 21-year-old Meaghan Bosch.

Bosch died in 2007 from lethal doses of cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone, official said.

The jury found McDaniel responsible for Bosch's death because he supplied her with drugs and was the last person to see her alive, according to a statement released Wednesday from U.S. District Attorney James T. Jacks.

The government presented evidence at trial that Meaghan Bosch was last seen alive, but unconscious, at James McDaniel’s residence on Winton Street, near the SMU campus on Friday afternoon, May 11, 2007.  On Monday, May 14, 2007, her body was found in a portable toilet by a construction worker in Hewitt, Texas, a small town near Waco, Texas, just over 100  miles south of Dallas.  The autopsy report showed that Ms. Bosch died from toxic levels of cocaine, methamphetamine, and oxycodone.  McDaniel’s DNA was found at the Hewitt, Texas, crime scene.  Further DNA evidence showed that hair from McDaniel’s white pit bull puppy was found on a blanket that was partially wrapped around Ms. Bosch’s body.  In addition, a spot of Ms. Bosch’s blood was found on McDaniel’s shorts.

Additionally, witnesses in the case testified that they saw Bosch using cocaine and smoking meth while sitting on McDaniel's bed around the same time her family and friends lost track of her on May 10, 2007.

According to Jacks' statement, "A government witness testified that he saw Ms. Bosch lying unconscious on a bed at McDaniel’s residence on May 11, 2007.  When other witnesses tried to take her to a hospital, McDaniel pulled out a gun, and said 'You ain’t taking her anywhere,' and let her die."

McDaniel was convicted last June on all counts of an indictment including one count of maintaining a drug-involved premise, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, one count of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine and one count of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death.

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