Drug Induced Death Offense

New Jersey law makes causing a drug overdose, also referred to a drug induced death, a form of criminal homicide. This statute renders an individual strictly liable when they manufacture, distribute, or dispense methamphetamine, lysergic acid diethylamide, phencyclidine or another controlled dangerous substance classified in Schedules I or II (i.e. Cocaine, Crack, Marijuana, Heroin) that results in the death of another person. This violation is a first degree crime that the Ocean County Prosecutor has taken serious interest in pursuing.  You absolutely need an experienced lawyer defending you if you have been charged with causing a drug induced death in Toms River, Point Pleasant, Brick, Little Egg Harbor, Lacey or another Ocean County town. Here at Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall, our attorneys offer decades of knowledge and experience defending complex CDS cases at the Superior Court in Toms River, including many years seeing how the system works from the other side as prosecutors. If you would like to speak to one of our attorneys immediately, contact our Toms River Office. Call us 24/7 for a free consultation at (732) 286-6500.

N.J.S.A. 2C:35-9 modifies the typical principles of criminal causation when a death is caused by the distribution or manufacturing of drugs. In this regard, N.J.S.A. 2C:2-3 does not apply when someone is charged with providing heroin, pain pills or other cds that causes an overdose.  For the purposes of this section, the defendant’s act of manufacturing, distributing, or dispensing a substance is the cause of death when:

• The injection, inhalation, or ingestion of the substance is an act occurring before the death of the victim but for which the death would not have occurred; and

• The death was not too remote in its occurrence as to have a just bearing on the defendant’s liability or too dependent upon the conduct of another person which was unrelated to the injection, inhalation, or ingestion of the substance or its effect as to have a just bearing on the defendant’s liability.

What this really means is that causation will be satisfied so long as the prosecution can show that you manufactured, distributed, or dispensed the drug to this person, this person took that drug, and there are no other factors that could have contributed more to their death than the ingestion, inhalation, or injection of the substance which you gave to or made for them. Nor is it a defense to this crime that the victim contributed to their death by virtue of the fact that they injected, inhaled, or ingested the substance purposefully, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently. All that matters are the elements listed above and not anything that the victim may or may not have done. Lastly, it is also of note that prosecution under this charge does not prohibit the state from also prosecuting an offender for homicide or other drug-related offenses, such as distribution of controlled dangerous substances. Therefore, this first degree crime, which by virtue of N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6 is punishable by imprisonment of between 10 and 20 years, can be coupled with other crimes to add even more time to your sentence.

These are serious charges and if you are faced with one or multiple offenses related to a drug-induced death, you cannot afford to face these charges alone. The attorneys at the Toms River Firm of Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall have over 100 years of collective experience in Ocean County defending against claims related to drug-induced deaths, distribution of controlled dangerous substances, possession of controlled dangerous substances and possession with intent to distribute controlled dangerous substances. Our lawyers have the knowledge and skill to help defend the overdose charge that was filed in Berkeley, Jackson, Manchester, Eagleswood or Stafford. Call (732) 286-6500 for a thorough review of the facts by a lawyer on our defense team. An attorney is available for free consultations 24/7.