Robert C. Kibble, one of two men charged in connection with the overdose death of a 14-year-old St. Paul girl in August 2012, pleaded guilty Wednesday to third-degree drug sales.

Dakota County District Judge Timothy Wermager sentenced the 26-year-old Redwood Falls, Minn., man to 27 months in prison in the death of Pauviera Linson.

Linson was found dead at her home in St. Paul on Aug. 5, 2012, after she, a friend and a cousin went with Kibble and Jacob Sawyer to a party the night before in Burnsville, where they were given drinks spiked with codeine and methadone. The drinks are known as "dirty Sprite," "purple drank" or "lean."

Because the girls had the drinks in Burnsville, Dakota County could charge Kibble and Sawyer only with drug crimes and giving alcohol to a minor, a gross misdemeanor.

Authorities in Ramsey County, where the girl died, said they couldn't file murder charges because they could not prove that the men knew the drinks contained methadone. The codeine alone probably would not have caused Linson's death.

The gross misdemeanor charge against Kibble was dismissed at his sentencing.

Sawyer, of St. Paul, still faces charges related to drugs and giving alcohol to a minor.

Pat Pheifer