Orange County drug dealers can now face murder charges for fentanyl poisoning

After an announcement from Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, drug dealers in Orange County can be prosecuted with murder if they distribute drugs that results in death. WikiCommons

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced Nov. 9 prosecutors can charge convicted drug dealers with murder if they manufacture or sell drugs that result in death.

This change comes at a time when fentanyl deaths have skyrocketed in Orange County: the rate of fatality in the county has increased by 1,000% over the past few years and by 1,513% in the state of California.

“These are not overdoses; these are murders,” Spitzer said in a Nov. 9 statement. “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.”

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid typically used to treat patients with chronic pain or severe pain following surgery. Fentanyl is reportedly 60 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and some fentanyl analogues may be as much as 10,000 times more potent. Two milligrams of these substances may be deadly, and 42% of pills tested for fentanyl contained at least 2 mg of fentanyl.

“No parent should have to pick out their child’s casket or think about what their headstone should read,” Spitzer continued in the statement. “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.”

Spitzer said his office will now provide information to convicted dealers, manufacturers and distributors about the potential fatal consequences of fentanyl and other drugs. His office contends providing the advice 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.

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin joined Spitzer at a Nov. 9 press conference. Hestrin said Riverside has upheld a similar policy for about a year, and the county currently has 10 pending murder cases regarding drug dealers.

The press conference also featured parents who had lost their children to fentanyl poisoning. 

“I can't say enough about how unfortunate it is that we are at this point,” Amy Neville, an Orange County mom, said at the press conference. “I believe the only way to significantly drive down drug deaths is to drive down demand. The fentanyl conversation needs to happen in every home in the nation.”

Neville's 14-year-old son died last year from fentanyl poisoning after taking what he thought was OxyContin.

“My son Alex died without getting to have this conversation,” Neville said. “I don't want anyone else to die. If this admonishment convinces a single distributor to get a different job, then it will have been a success.”

Matt Capelouto — a father whose 20-year-old daughter, named Alexandra, died from fentanyl poisoning two days before Christmas 2019 after taking what she thought was oxycodone — also spoke at the press conference.

“These drug dealers, these purveyors of death, are well aware of the poison they are handing out to your friends, your neighbors, your children, your children’s friends — your family,” Capelouto said. “They make a conscious decision to sell a potentially life-ending, fake pill to a human being without regard for the repercussions. We have the opportunity to create real accountability for the actions of drug dealers that are literally murdering thousands of Americans.”

Earlier this year, California lawmakers chose to not approve Senate Bill 350, which would have required convicted dealers or manufacturers of various drugs to receive a written advisory warning stating they could be charged with voluntary manslaughter or murder if they are found to have manufactured or sold drugs that led to death. The bill was named Alexandra’s Law after Capelouto’s daughter.

At the conference, Spitzer described the outdated fashion in which drug deaths enter the criminal justice system.

The first federal conviction in the state’s history against a drug dealer for causing an overdose death after selling fentanyl-laced pills occurred in 2019. The convictions are extremely rare, but Spitzer emphasized more action needs to be taken to arrest people selling fentanyl and to update the current thinking regarding overdoses.

“Thirty years ago when I became a police officer, a reserve for LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department), when somebody died from taking drugs, we put into the (system) that they were a drug user, it was an overdose (and) closed the case,” Spitzer said. “That is an incredible lack of sensitivity, and it’s not the truth.”

Spitzer said, as a father, he feels very strongly about the problem and wants to ensure no more children die of fentanyl poisoning.

“I’m not going to let drug dealers get away with murder,” Spitzer said. “It’s not going to happen anymore.”