Drug dealers could be charged with murder for fatal overdoses in Orange County
Taking aim at the rise of the powerful synthetic drug fentanyl, Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer announced Tuesday that he will seek murder charges against dealers who sell drugs that end up killing people.
Flanked by members of local law enforcement during a morning press conference, Spitzer said that his office will now provide an advisement to convicted dealers, manufacturers and distributors about the potential fatal consequences of drugs. His office contends that providing the advisement enables prosecutors to charge them with murder if they commit another drug-related crime resulting in somebody’s death.
The tactic was compared to the Watson advisement, which is a warning given to people convicted of DUI that they can be charged with murder if they kill someone while driving under the influence. The advisement is required by California law.
“These are not overdoses,” Spitzer said. “These are murders. These dealers are essentially handing a loaded gun to unsuspecting victims knowing that they will probably die, and they don’t care. Fentanyl is cheap, it’s easy to get, and it’s killing people who had no idea they were taking it.
“I refuse to let these drug dealers get away with murder. No parent should have to pick out their child’s casket or think about what their headstone should read. Many of these teenagers and very young people are dying because they thought they were buying drugs to ease anxiety and instead drug dealers sold them a fatal dose of fentanyl. Not a single drug on the street should be considered safe. It only takes one pill. One time.”
The number of fentanyl-related deaths in Orange County and the rest of the country has been on the rise in recent years. Spitzer and other law enforcement personnel mentioned at the press conference that fentanyl can be present in a number of drugs, including pharmaceutical pills like Xanax, Oxycontin and other opioids.
As the opioid epidemic continues to claim lives, UC Irvine researchers have identified a plant extract that may help fight opiate addiction.
According to the Orange County Health Care Agency, 234 residents died from opioid overdoses in 2011, compared to 499 in 2020. Fentanyl is a huge contributor to the number of opioid deaths, accounting for 381 of the deaths last year. According to the district attorney’s office, Orange County has experienced a 1,000% increase over the last five years in fentanyl deaths.
More than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the U.S. last year, nearly 70,000 due to opioids. According to the California Department of Health Care Services, fentanyl accounted for more than a third of overdose deaths between July 2019 and July 2020. Overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled since 2018. In particular, the agency noted that homeless populations are adversely impacted by the rise of fentanyl.
Orange County is currently on pace this year to record the most homeless deaths in its history. Many of the deaths were caused by drug overdoses, with 106 of the 321 deaths involving fentanyl.
Orange County Public Defender Martin Schwarz took issue with Spitzer’s new policy.
“Unlike the ‘Watson’ advisement given in DUI cases, which is mandated by law, there is no legal basis allowing courts to give the district attorney’s proposed advisement in drug cases,” Schwarz said in an email. “In fact, earlier this year, the California District Attorney’s Assn. unsuccessfully attempted to convince the Legislature to pass a law which would have required similar language.
“That bill, SB350, did not make it out of the Senate Public Safety Committee. Unless the Legislature changes course, there continues to be no legal basis for the courts to allow this. Additionally, the language of the advisement directly contradicts two California Supreme Court opinions which held that furnishing drugs to someone that results in a death cannot support a second-degree murder conviction.”
Spitzer was joined by Riverside County Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin at the press conference. For about a year, Hestrin’s office has been seeking murder charges against dealers in fentanyl-related deaths. Seven cases have been filed so far, but none have gone to trial yet. Most of the cases have been for second-degree murder.
“Every single community across this country is facing a fentanyl crisis,” Hestrin said.
Under Spitzer’s new policy, the advisement will be given to people convicted of a variety of drug offenses, including possession for sale of cocaine, heroin and opiates, loitering to commit a controlled substance offense and transportation of a controlled substance for sale. While Riverside County is targeting only fentanyl-related cases, Spitzer said that he is expanding on Hestrin’s policy to all drugs due to fentanyl’s widespread presence.
A few parents of people who have died from fentanyl spoke at the press conference.
Amy Neville, whose son Alex died of an overdose when he believed he was taking Oxycontin, hopes that the community will begin to more openly acknowledge and discuss the dangers of fentanyl, including dealers and people with substance-use disorders.
“My son, Alex, died without getting to have this conversation, I don’t want any more people to die,” Neville said. “If this admonishment convinces a single distributor to find a different job, then it will have been a success.”
Earlier this year, California lawmakers chose to not approve Senate Bill 350, which would have required that convicted dealers or manufacturers of various drugs receive a written advisory warning that they could be charged with voluntary manslaughter or murder if they are found to have manufactured or sold drugs that led to the death of a person.
The bill was named Alexandra’s Law after the daughter of Matt Capelouto, who spoke in favor of Spitzer’s new policy at Tuesday’s press conference.
Capelouto said his daughter died around Christmas in 2019 after ingesting what she thought was oxycodone. Instead, the pill was filled with a fatal amount of fentanyl.
“In a flash she was gone,” Capelouto said. “She was killed, taken from us, poisoned by a drug dealer, who this very day is still walking the streets.
“These drug dealers know the danger they are peddling. They should be held criminally accountable.”
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