Dealer Sentenced in Heroin Homicide Case
It’s an ongoing debate in the United States and it’s taking place in court rooms: should those who give or sell drugs to others who ultimately die as a result of using those drugs be charged and convicted of homicide?
In a recent case, Brian Burt pleaded guilty to giving heroin to a man who later died of a heroin overdose. His sentence was five years in prison for homicide by heroin. Around the same time, he sold heroin to another man who died of a heroin overdose as well – Burt received another five-year sentence. The judge will allow him to serve those two sentences concurrently, according to his plea agreement.
Prosecutors say that this case is different from other cases in which a friend gave someone their pills and that person ended up overdosing accidently or cases in which dealers sold drugs to someone who purposely or inadvertently took too much or combined those drugs with other substances and ultimately died. They say that Burt was aware that the heroin he was selling was deadly and continued to sell it anyway. They also believe that in addition to the two overdose victims that Burt pleaded guilty to giving heroin, there were three others who also died as a result of Burt’s actions.
Why did Burt continue to sell heroin even after finding out that it was hurting people? Defenders and prosecutors say that his own drug addiction compelled him. He needed the money to maintain his addiction. Because he was convicted of violent offenses, he is not eligible for programs that would provide him solely with drug addiction treatment without imprisonment. However, he may still be able to seek treatment while he is in custody and make progress toward a clean and sober lifestyle when he gets out of prison.
In most cases, it is not so clear cut. The person on trial may have sold the same amount of drugs to dozens of other people – even to the victim a number of different times – without incident, and end up surprised by the arrest and charges for homicide. What do you think? Should those who sell or give drugs to others who end up dying from their use be held accountable? Or is the victim alone accountable for his or her actions? Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think.
