How Many Degrees of Separation Are You From a Life Sentence for Drug Conspiracy?

Florida law makes a lot of threats, and Floridians happily ignore them.  Lawmakers threaten to impose life sentences for drug trafficking, while Floridians go on injecting, ingesting, and inhaling with little regard for which drugs are on which schedule of controlled substances, and which drugs are even present in the powders and pills they are exchanging.  Sure, LSD is a Schedule I controlled substance, but somewhere in Broward County, there is a legal “trip room.”  Things are different when someone dies as a result of the drugs, though.  Distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death is a felony with a minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.  You could face this draconian charge even if you only sold one pill out of the baggie of pills you bought from an acquaintance, and you thought it was Adderall, but it turned out to be fentanyl; fentanyl is present in more than half of the counterfeit prescription pills in today’s illegal drug supply.  If you sold a trivial quantity of what you thought was a harmless drug, and now you are being accused of playing a role in someone’s death, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.

One Guilty Plea Leads to Charges for Five Apparently Unrelated Overdose Deaths

Prosecutors often pressure defendants to plead guilty in order to make life simpler for the defendant, but this often means that the prosecutors’ task is just beginning.  Information provided by defendants as part of plea deals can lead to further investigations and more arrests, especially in drug cases.  In November 2021, a man died of a fentanyl overdose, and the Indian River County resident who sold him the drugs confessed to this as part of his plea deal.  He is still awaiting a sentence, but the investigation sparked by his confession led to the arrests of people who supplied the drugs that caused five other fatal overdoses.  One of these overdose deaths was a ten-month-old baby who died from accidental ingestion of fentanyl that her mother had bought from a Lake Worth couple.

A tip from an acquaintance or stranger purporting to connect you to a crime is not definitive proof of your guilt; you are innocent until proven guilty, as are the five defendants currently facing charges for drug distribution resulting in death.  In fact, if the alleged co-conspirator’s confession is not corroborated by other evidence, you might be able to argue that the snitch only blamed you in order to avoid a long prison sentence.  Eyewitness testimony is not always as persuasive as prosecutors try to tell you it is; it is up to you, with your lawyer’s guidance, to decide whether to plead guilty or not guilty to your charges.

Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases

A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are being accused of drug conspiracy.  Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Sources:

npr.org/2024/05/13/1250791924/fentanyl-opioid-counterfeit-pills-law-enforcement-seizures-study

justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/south-florida-couple-arrested-relation-conspiracy-distribute-fentanyl-and-distribution

.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/february-2024-one-defendant-pled-guilty-and-five-others-have-been-charged-distributing