Some prosecutors are pursuing murder charges for dealers linked to fentanyl deaths. But a public defender said such moves are outside the scope of the law.
Some Southern California district attorneys are joining a growing national push to file murder charges against drug dealers who manufacture or sell fentanyl that ends up leading to deaths.
Under Spitzer’s plan, those convicted of possession for sale of heroin, cocaine, or opiates that commonly contain fentanyl will be warned of the deadly consequences of trafficking. They could then be charged with murder if they go on to sell to someone who dies.Prosecutors in Riverside and San Bernardino counties have also begun charging some drug dealers with homicide, as have officials in jurisdictions from Las Vegas to Maryland.
Martin Schwarz, Orange County’s public defender, also rejected Spitzer‘s move as beyond the scope of the law, noting that California prosecutors tried but failed to get the California Legislature to change the laws to make such charges possible. “Unless the Legislature changes course, there continues to be no legal basis for the courts to allow this,” he said.
Celebrity deaths involving fentanyl have garnered attention, including comedian Fuquan Johnson and two others who reportedly usedFederal prosecutors have filed more than a dozen cases against dealers where users suffered fatal overdoses. They secured a plea in the 2018 death of rapper Mac Miller last month from one of three men accused of supplying him drugs. Stephen Andrew Walter was sentenced to 17 years on the charge of distributing counterfeit Oxycodone pills with fentanyl.
She said she found out later that two others also died from drugs supplied by the dealer who also gave Alexander the pill. “In Riverside County in 2016, there were two fentanyl-related deaths,” he added. “This year we are on pace to have between 500 and 600 fentanyl-related deaths, the deaths are doubling every year. ... Fentanyl is so lethal it is poisoning our community.”Matt Capelouto said his daughter Alexandra’s death in Riverside County was determined to be an accidental overdose, but it was poisoning.
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