45°
Port Jervis resident Katelynn Smith has been sentenced to a term of six years in prison, and post-release supervision after pleading guilty in Orange County Court to criminally negligent homicide and criminal sale of a controlled substance in October last year.
On April 18 last year, Smith sold oxycodone to a quadriplegic man in his Port Jervis home. She admitted to helping the man take the pills by crushing them and rolling up a dollar bill for him to snort them with.
According to Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler, Smith acknowledged that she was aware the man was drinking vodka at the time and that he took other medications, including Klonopin, a sedative.
The man later died, after Smith left him alone. An autopsy determined that the man’s cause of death was a combination of oxycodone, alcohol, and the active ingredient in Klonopin.
Hoovler noted, "Smith’s conviction may represent the first time in Orange County history that a defendant has been convicted of homicide as a result of illegally selling drugs."
“It’s common knowledge that we are in the midst of an opiate epidemic,” Hoovler said. “An epidemic where drug dealers, in their efforts to make an illegal profit, are literally killing people.
"Drug dealers must be punished, not just for selling drugs, but for the damage they do to people whose lives they affect. This case should serve as fair warning to drug dealers out there: If you sell drugs in Orange County and the buyer dies, we’re coming after you.”
Click here to follow Daily Voice Ramapo and receive free news updates.
