California prosecutors are taking a more aggressive stance on the fentanyl crisis by charging drug suppliers with murder if fentanyl distribution results in a death.
While the state’s larger cities, such as San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento, have traditionally used less punitive approaches to drug-related cases, counties in the outskirts of the progressive municipalities with a stronger GOP presence are beginning to ramp up their efforts on the matter.
Mike Hestrin, a district attorney for Riverside County, California, has charged 34 alleged fentanyl suppliers with homicide over three years and is the first state prosecutor to secure a guilty verdict for a fentanyl-related murder case, the New York Times reported.
Last year, a jury found Vicente David Romero guilty of second-degree murder after he knowingly supplied a pill containing a deadly dosage of fentanyl to Kelsey King, 26, who thought the pill was oxycodone.
While the state does not have a law that categorizes a fentanyl-related death as murder, Hestrin and other state attorneys are turning to the Watson murder rule, used in drunken-driver cases in which drunk drivers can be charged with murder if they knowingly disregard the risks.
Defense attorneys are arguing the definition of murder in these cases is unconstitutional because it is not backed by the law.
“The power to define the crime of murder belongs to the Legislature,” said Michael Duncan, Romero’s defense attorney. “Not to courts and not Mr. Hestrin’s office.”
While some leaders in the state say bringing severe charges will only exacerbate the prisoner overflow in the state’s prisons, some state prosecutors say cracking down on drug charges signals to fentanyl suppliers that their actions could result in more than just a slap-on-the-wrist consequence.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who assumed the role after her predecessor was recalled for being too soft on crime, said bringing homicide charges to fentanyl suppliers lets them know, “We will not let you get away with killing our most vulnerable.”
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California’s approach to crime has begun to change in the last year as voters, Republicans and some centrist Democrats, are putting more pressure on state leaders to get tough on crime and homelessness, as well as the fentanyl crisis as it plagues blue cities. This month, prosecutors from Orange County, Riverside County’s neighbor, announced an anti-crime campaign to help curb theft problems in the area.
A billboard showcasing the faces of Sacramento fentanyl victims was recently displayed over Interstate 5 to raise awareness for fentanyl overdoses, which killed 6,473 people in 2022. In 2023, the state’s National Guard seized 62,224 pounds of fentanyl at the state’s ports of entry.
