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Jaquan Casserly, age 34, of Holbrook, pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in Suffolk County Court on Friday, April 5, in the death of 31-year-old Chelsey Murray.
Investigators said Murray was found unresponsive in her Suffolk County residence in August 2022. She died days later at Stony Brook University Hospital from a fentanyl overdose.
Following her hospitalization, an undercover Suffolk County Police detective contacted Casserly and arranged to buy drugs from him. Casserly sold the detective a combination of heroin and fentanyl that was kept in a red glassine envelope, the same type that Murray’s father found in the bathroom where she overdosed.
On Aug. 27, 2022, police searched Casserly’s Holbrook residence and found a combination of heroin and fentanyl. They also found drug selling materials including a digital scale, glassine envelopes, and a pair of metal knuckles.
A review of his cell phone records showed that he had arranged to meet the woman and sell her a “fetty mix,” a street term for a mixture of fentanyl and heroin.
In court Friday, Casserly pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, a felony. He is expected to get 10 years in prison when he’s sentenced on Wednesday, May 8.
Murray’s death was one of more than 400 in Suffolk County that year that resulted from drug overdoses, many from fentanyl, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
Following the conviction, Tierney renewed calls for state lawmakers to pass “Chelsey’s Law,” which would make selling, delivering, or otherwise administering a controlled substance eligible for manslaughter charges if someone later died from an overdose.
“We are resolute on our commitment to ensure that the suppliers of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Not only do these greedy dealers supply deadly drugs to vulnerable individuals, but they also can literally kill them with just a tiny amount,” Tierney said.
“That is why I continue to advocate for the passage of ‘Chelsey’s Law,’ a law that holds drug dealers accountable for the overdose deaths caused by the drugs they sell.”
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