Fentanyl Tears Apart a Community Suffering From Addiction
In certain parts of Florida, fentanyl is as ubiquitous as reptiles far from their native range who have found a fertile breeding ground in the Sunshine State. Everyone knows someone who died an untimely death because of opioids and others separated by their addiction from the ability to work and to repair their relationships with their family and friends. This is such a common scenario that the criminal court system has acknowledged, for a long time, that most drug crimes are symptoms of addiction rather than a malicious effort to harm others. If you get caught with counterfeit opioids or other illicit drugs in your possession, the court may be willing to accept you into a pretrial adjudication program where you can undergo substance use disorder treatment and get your charges dropped. Things are not so simple if you share your illegal drugs with other people, and one of them overdoses. Good Samaritan laws protect you if you call for help when someone is showing signs of an overdose, but not if you are not present when the overdose occurs. If you are facing criminal charges for providing drugs that were involved in an overdose death, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.
Defense Lawyers Say Man Who Sold Counterfeit Opioids to Women Who Suffered Fatal Overdose
When Anthony Del Valle was 26 years old, he was repairing a boat by the side of the road when a tractor trailer struck him and injured his leg and hip. By the time he had recovered from the surgeries and finished the postoperative treatment, he was addicted to prescription opioids. His life quickly spiraled, and soon he was surrounded by others like him who had become addicted to opioids after physical injuries. Since everyone was in dire financial circumstances, everyone shared their drugs. One of his fellow travelers in addiction was Jennifer Graham, whose opioid addiction had begun decades earlier, when a car struck her as she was sitting on a bench. At first, doctors prescribed her Dilaudid, but then her addiction escalated.
Eventually, Graham and her sister Julie Beckstrom overdosed on counterfeit oxycodone pills they got from Del Valle. His case went to trial, and the jury acquitted him of drug-induced homicide but convicted him of other drug crimes. At the trial, prosecution witnesses, defense witnesses, and even the judge told heartbreaking stories of lives cut short by opioids.
His conviction should carry a sentence of less than ten years, but the judge is trying to sentence him to 20 years in prison. It is likely that this long prison sentence will go forward without legal challenges. It is patently illegal for a judge to impose a sentence for a crime of which the defendant was acquitted.
Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases
A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges after someone overdosed on drugs that police claim were yours. Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
palmbeachpost.com/story/news/crime/2025/02/03/months-after-jury-acquitted-him-drug-dealer-absolved-of-florida-sisters-deaths-sent-to-prison-anyway/78030330007/
