Skip to Content
Free Consultation 201-574-7919
Top

Heroin overdose leads to criminal charges

|

A man from New Jersey faces criminal charges for his part in the fatal heroin overdose of a resident of Brick Township on Jan. 24. He was being held in the Ocean County Jail as he awaits trial.

The authorities first became involved when they discovered a medically unresponsive man in a Brick Township home on Drum Point Road. After an autopsy revealed that the 38-year-old man had died from a heroin overdose, they traced the man they believe to have sold him the drug. That man, a 28-year-old resident of Lacey Township, has been accused of providing the illegal narcotic that the Brick man used to self-administer a lethal dose. He was taken into custody on March 9 and charged with a variety of crimes, including possession of heroin, possession with intent to distribute heroin, distribution of heroin, strict liability for a drug-induced death and reckless manslaughter.

This is the 18th investigation related to drug-induced death handled by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in the recent past. A third of the people charged in similar cases pleaded guilty to the strict liability charge, and approximately ten percent formally admitted to the drug charges against them.

Crimes related to heroin distribution carry with them a serious possibility of incarceration upon conviction in New Jersey, especially when there is a fatality involved. It may be advisable to seek the advice of an attorney and carefully review the case presented by the prosecution in their attempt to indict and convict the defendant. Evidence that appears to have been collected improperly or insufficiently related to the case may be challenged, and if the court agrees with the challenge then it may be excluded from the trial and removed from the use of the prosecution.

Source: NJ.com, "Man charged with heroin overdose death in Brick," MaryAnn Spoto, March 10, 2015

Categories: 
Share To: