Coleman: Fentanyl law critical in saving lives

Starting July 1, the Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office will have another tool to combat the use of fentanyl in the county.

House Bill 406 was signed by Idaho Gov. Brad Little in February. The bill creates a felony trafficking law for fentanyl, with different levels of sentences based on the amount of the drug.

Those convicted of having at least 4 grams but less than 14 grams of fentanyl, or between 100-250 pills, will be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of three years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Those found guilty of having between 14 grams and 28 grams, or at least 250 pills, will get a minimum of five years and a $15,000 fine.

If someone is found guilty of 28 grams or more, or 500-plus pills, that person will receive a minimum sentence of 10 years and a $25,000 fine.

The bill also specifies a crime of drug-induced homicide, which can be used if someone gives another person an illegal drug and that person dies. The person could receive a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Even when the bill goes into effect, prosecutors can’t amend charges of cases that are already pending.

When the first fentanyl case comes through Nez Perce County after July 1, in which a person has more than 100 pills, the prosecutor’s office can charge the person under the new law, said Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman.

Prosecutors have options on drug charges, including possession, trafficking and intent to deliver. Possession has a maximum penalty, but no minimum requirement, and the court can sentence someone to probation, a rider program, in which the person attends treatment in prison. A felony possession with intent to deliver also has a maximum penalty with no mandatory minimum sentence but the person can’t be sentenced to treatment or probation.

With trafficking, there is a mandatory sentence, meaning the person has to serve the minimum number of years before that person is eligible for parole, but the maximum sentence can be determined by the court. The person can’t be sentenced to probation or a rider program.

Coleman said proving a trafficking case is similar to doing so on a possession case, but prosecutors have to show the drug amount meets the standard set by the law. Cases involving intent to deliver are more complicated, Coleman said, because there’s more investigation needed to provide evidence the person intended to distribute the drug to someone or had delivered it.

“Where trafficking really is just a matter of proving it’s fentanyl, proving the person had it and proving it was the amount you are charging for,” Coleman said.

That’s why the fentanyl trafficking law doesn’t have a requirement to prove intent to deliver, because it concerns the type of drug and the amount and there’s a separate law prosecutors can use to pursue intent to deliver.

The drug-induced homicide law has a maximum penalty of life in prison, which is considerably more than the maximum sentence of 10 years for involuntary manslaughter that Nez Perce County is currently using.

If there is another fentanyl overdose case, the county will use the new law and be able to seek a higher sentence. To get a conviction, prosecutors have to prove the person provided the drug that caused the death. Coleman is hoping it will also deter people from dealing drugs.

“(Fentanyl is) just far too dangerous to not be fighting it in every way we can,” Coleman said.

Coleman used the example of Eric S. Taylor, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter for delivering fentanyl to Samantha G. Russsell, who died of an overdose. Taylor pleaded guilty in February and will be sentenced July 12. The prosecutor went with the involuntary manslaughter charge for that case.

Although the drug-induced homicide law is for any death that is the result of a drug, Coleman said it will be most used with fentanyl cases.

“By and large anymore that’s probably going to mean fentanyl, because that’s where the bulk of overdoses are coming from,” Coleman said.

Coleman said the drug-induced homicide law will give prosecutors a way to prosecute those cases that are more specific to how the victim was killed. Coleman said other states, including Washington, have similar laws.

Coleman was working with other prosecutors in the state as well as local legislators on the fentanyl trafficking bill.

The bill had been attempted in the past and some of the challenges were figuring out the amounts that would qualify for trafficking, because amounts of personal use can vary from person to person.

Coleman talked with drug detectives around the state to figure out average amounts that people use for personal use versus amounts used by dealers.

Coleman said legislators settled on amounts more than 100 pills as a base for what drug dealers would be carrying. Some politicians disagreed with trafficking laws in general because they don’t support mandatory minimum sentences, but Coleman said trafficking laws are a useful deterrent.

“Trafficking statutes provide us with an invaluable tool in our state in combating these types of considerable dangers to our community and providing a tremendous deterrent,” Coleman said.

Coleman talked with drug investigators who were told by dealers they avoid even coming across the bridge into Lewiston from Washington because of the drug laws in Idaho as opposed to those in Washington and Oregon. For Coleman, that shows the deterrence is already working.

But more than preventing people from dealing the drug, he also wants to stop people from using it.

“Fentanyl to me is by far our most dangerous drug on our streets right now because you just never know what you’re getting in any small pill you obtain,” he said. “It’s really like playing Russian roulette out there. The risk can’t be undersold.”

The cost is also cheaper than other drugs, so it’s being sold in large amounts by dealers. By removing dealers from the streets and placing them in prison through the trafficking law, it gives law enforcement and prosecutors another way to fight against fentanyl and prevent more deaths.

“I think that having this opportunity for law enforcement to really go after fentanyl, in a way we have been needing to for a number of years, is only going to help save lives,” Coleman said.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.