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A 25-year-old lady from Fresno was sentenced to 19 years and 4 months in state jail after being convicted of second-degree homicide for giving fentanyl capsules to 41-year-old Jade Dreith, who died in 2022.
Cassidy Marie Gonzalez was discovered responsible of second-degree homicide final March. It was the primary time a jury in Fresno County returned a responsible verdict in a fentanyl-related murder trial.
On Friday, Gonzalez was sentenced to fifteen years to life in state jail for giving Dreith counterfeit fentanyl capsules referred to as “blue M-30s.” She additionally obtained an additional 4 years and 4 months for different felony convictions associated to promoting medication.
“This sentencing displays the seriousness of the defendant’s actions and the devastating and lethal penalties of distributing fentanyl,” Fresno County Dist. Atty. Lisa Smittcamp mentioned in a press release. “Fentanyl continues to assert lives in our group, and when somebody knowingly sells this poison and a life is misplaced, we’ll pursue most accountability underneath the regulation.”
In the course of the trial, proof confirmed that Gonzalez knowingly bought fentanyl to Dreith, which led to her overdose and loss of life. The Fresno County district lawyer’s workplace mentioned the jury discovered that Gonzalez “acted with aware disregard for human life, assembly the authorized commonplace for second-degree homicide underneath California regulation.” After Dreith’s loss of life, Gonzalez saved promoting counterfeit prescription M-30s with fentanyl, regardless that she knew how harmful they had been.
“Nobody deserves to die due to this,” Jade’s sister Sage Dreith mentioned throughout a information convention in 2022. “She didn’t know she was going to die, she didn’t plan to kill herself or do something like that. She was folding laundry, consuming a snack and taking part in together with her canine and he or she fell asleep and by no means awoke.”
“That is homicide with out utilizing a weapon,” Smittcamp added on the time. “These folks know this tablet can kill folks.”
Due to her age when she dedicated the crime, Gonzalez might be eligible for Youthful Offender Parole after serving a part of her sentence.
Whereas this was the primary case like this in Fresno County, different counties akin to Riverside, Placer and San Bernardino have additionally filed homicide costs in fentanyl-related deaths. In Los Angeles, Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman has supported charging fentanyl sellers with voluntary manslaughter or homicide if somebody dies from the medication they promote. In October, a 23-year-old lady from Palmdale was charged with homicide after her 2-year-old son died from an overdose in 2023.
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