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09-09-2023, 03:43 PM
BY OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Updated 12:09 PM GMT+8, September 8, 2023
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Some 20 states have so-called “drug-induced homicide” laws, which allow prosecutors to press murder or manslaughter charges against anyone who supplies or exposes a person to drugs causing a fatal overdose. The laws are intended to target drug dealers.
In California, where the Legislature has failed to pass such laws, prosecutors in at least three counties are turning to drunk driving laws to charge parents whose children die from fentanyl overdose. It’s a unique approach that will soon be tested in court as the cases head to trial.
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Parents also can face charges if young children become seriously ill or die from crack, heroin and cocaine
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Prosecutors have a difficult decision to make when determining whether to charge parents, but Smith said the goal is to deter others from doing the same.
He prosecuted a case in which parents in Maryland were convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2020 death of their 2-month-old son. The Mount Airy couple had mixed fentanyl in the same bathroom where they prepared bottles for their infant.
Jeremy Whitney Frazier and Heather Marie Frazier were each sentenced in December to five years in prison and five years of supervised probation.
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Last month, a Maine woman pleaded guilty to manslaughter after her 14-month-old son’s fentanyl overdose. Investigators found fentanyl on a blanket and sheet where Ashley Malloy’s son Karson had been sleeping.
States such as Maryland that don’t have “drug-induced homicide” laws often charge parents with manslaughter
......
In California, prosecutors have turned to a drunk driving law.
Prosecutors in Riverside, Sonoma and Stanislaus counties have charged parents with murder based on the “Watson advisement,” a formal statement signed by anyone convicted of a DUI charge who says they understand driving under the influence can injure or kill people. The statement can be used against them if they cause another fatal, DUI-related crash.
......
Prosecutors say the parents, like drunk drivers, knew fentanyl can injure or kill people.
......
“They need to be held accountable under the law because they allowed harm to come to their children and they let their drug use and addiction outweigh taking care of their children and keeping their children safe,” Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said.
https://apnews.com/article/children-fent...3edcc73f73
Updated 12:09 PM GMT+8, September 8, 2023
......
Some 20 states have so-called “drug-induced homicide” laws, which allow prosecutors to press murder or manslaughter charges against anyone who supplies or exposes a person to drugs causing a fatal overdose. The laws are intended to target drug dealers.
In California, where the Legislature has failed to pass such laws, prosecutors in at least three counties are turning to drunk driving laws to charge parents whose children die from fentanyl overdose. It’s a unique approach that will soon be tested in court as the cases head to trial.
......
Parents also can face charges if young children become seriously ill or die from crack, heroin and cocaine
......
Prosecutors have a difficult decision to make when determining whether to charge parents, but Smith said the goal is to deter others from doing the same.
He prosecuted a case in which parents in Maryland were convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2020 death of their 2-month-old son. The Mount Airy couple had mixed fentanyl in the same bathroom where they prepared bottles for their infant.
Jeremy Whitney Frazier and Heather Marie Frazier were each sentenced in December to five years in prison and five years of supervised probation.
......
Last month, a Maine woman pleaded guilty to manslaughter after her 14-month-old son’s fentanyl overdose. Investigators found fentanyl on a blanket and sheet where Ashley Malloy’s son Karson had been sleeping.
States such as Maryland that don’t have “drug-induced homicide” laws often charge parents with manslaughter
......
In California, prosecutors have turned to a drunk driving law.
Prosecutors in Riverside, Sonoma and Stanislaus counties have charged parents with murder based on the “Watson advisement,” a formal statement signed by anyone convicted of a DUI charge who says they understand driving under the influence can injure or kill people. The statement can be used against them if they cause another fatal, DUI-related crash.
......
Prosecutors say the parents, like drunk drivers, knew fentanyl can injure or kill people.
......
“They need to be held accountable under the law because they allowed harm to come to their children and they let their drug use and addiction outweigh taking care of their children and keeping their children safe,” Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said.
https://apnews.com/article/children-fent...3edcc73f73
