Robert Franklin Skinkle, 26, of Berlin, on Tuesday was found guilty on all counts including manslaughter, distribution and possession of heroin and reckless endangerment, after an investigation determined he supplied the drug to another Berlin man who fatally overdosed at his residence last Nov. 13. Skinkle faces as many as 20 years for the distribution conviction and 10 years for the manslaughter conviction pending the outcome of a pre-sentence investigation. Judge Thomas C. Groton III later said “this was an easy decision” for him after hearing the defense attorney’s closing statements.
Holding a known distributor accountable in fatal overdoses is certainly not a new tool in the tool box for prosecutors. There was a case in Ocean City in 2011 when a heroin addict on vacation in the resort knowingly supplied a female companion with methadone on which she fatally overdosed while the defendant watched.
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12 comments:
keep it going.
Good news! My friends lost their son last year to Heroin. His cell phone also showed proof of who sold him the drug. We are hoping there will be more convictions that will get these dealers off he streets.
A drug dealer is responsible for someone sticking a needle in someone else's arm? More of "it ain't MY fault I did something really stupid!" BS.
We already have drug dealers killing MILLIONS of Americans. Jack Daniels and the Marlboro Man are wreaking havoc. THEY get TV time and laughing users having a good time! Those dealers are rich beyond belief.....
You are either against drugs or not.
Stop lying to yourself that ONE drug is REALLY bad because it killed several thousand people last year, but you're okay with the ones that killed a MILLION people just LAST YEAR alone.
A MILLION EVERY YEAR.
No one can legislate choices. Natural selection takes care of poor choices.
I'll bet the house --- if Jack Daniel could find a way to profit from heroin or call it something else and get "marketing" to come up with an ad campaign, that crap would be legal in less than a year.
And you would cheer that, too.
The ads would be SPECTACULAR!
Hello Jack Daniels and cigarette's are not illegal and JD's adds encourage people to drink responsibly plus cigarette's have many warnings. I haven't seen an adds for Heroin. Yes people make their own stupid choices some times. But if they charged more drug dealers with murder perhaps the government could put a dent in this country's drug epidemic.
Not illegal? Depending on who has them!
1:47.....you missed the point.
Which I expected.
"...encourage people to drink responsibly...."
LOL!
You think Jack Daniel WANTS people to buy LESS whiskey?
If they charged more whiskey producers with accessory to murder, I'll bet THAT product would go back underground, too.
Choices. Make the right ones. But don't blame someone ELSE for them.
And I understand your reasoning about jailing more drug dealers. THAT plan has worked out so fantastically that there are hardly any more drug dealers left.
I'll bet you think just a few more guns laws will bring peace to the hood, too.
And, more DUI Nazi checkpoints will stop drunk driving.
My God.
You know what will put a dent in the drug trade?
Jailing the bankers, the wealthy, the military officers, and the police, who are the ones FINANCING the trade and PROTECTING it's movement.
We are not there yet, huh?
2:33 could you also tell us your theory on who shot John F. Kennedy?
4:40 you should really pay attention to his words. Do you start prosecuting car makers for someone who crashes there corvette because they were breaking the speed limit law and the car was capable?
It really doesn't surprise me nowadays the crazy logic behind some people's thinking process. Let's examine this.
Alcohol on its face value is not illegal, many people drink alcohol their entire lives and never have a run in with the law, kill anybody in a car accident, no dui, etc. However alcohol does in fact kill people when they drink themselves to death or they kill someone on the road. But again alcohol is legal to consume.
Cars don't kill people, people driving cars like they are on a race track kill people. A car on its face value it not illegal.
Cigarettes are also legal, yes they give people cancer which often times kills them. However the vast vast majority of US citizen are not all up in arms trying to get the federal government to make them illegal.
Now let's examine heroin. Every state in the US and the federal government has made heroin possession, use and distribution illegal. Heroin on its face value is illegal and illicit. What lawful reason does a person have to use heroin, or distribute heroin. Heroin as the public has been made fully aware over the last 4-5 years is dangerous and is killing people at a rate of a hundred per day, in fact it's probably more than that. So in a years time that is approximately 36500 people who die as a result of heroin overdoses. Did you know that nearly 40% of those killed from a heroin overdose are younger than 30 years old?
Now think about how many people smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol in the US and compare that to the number of people abusing heroin. You will find that there are millions and millions more people that use cigarettes and alcohol than heroin. However the death rate of individuals who use heroin is hundreds of times greater than those who use alcohol or cigarettes.
So here is a guy selling an ILLEGAL substance that all levels of government have made illegal and that has a extremely high death rate associated with it, and guess what happens to the guy who used the heroin... He dies.
I am greatful that law enforcement is aggressively going after these scum that are selling this poison in our communities.
However there are some wack jobs on here that make insane arguments that "the police should be going after alcohol manufacturers and cigarette manufactures and car manufacturers".
No the guy that sold the heroin did not force the man to put the needle is his arm but by selling a deadly illegal street drug to someone knowing the dangers associated with it he got what he deserved in the court of law.
So to our hard working law enforcement officers, thank you keep up the good work and stay safe, there are some crazys out there for sure.
The guy sold heroin to another person...... Found guilty of distribution of heroin..... No brainer
The guy that bought the heroin died as a result of using the heroin.... Guy who sold the heroin found guilty of manslaughter... again no brainer
You drink all day with people that you bash on blogs. Your a bad person.
7:47...learn to read and comprehend better.
I never said the police should be "going after alcohol manufacturers..." I was pointing out the hypocrisy of picking which "drug" you don't like.....
Heroin dealers need execution. It won't stop heroin dealers, but it will stop the ones we kill.
Did that help your understanding?
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