Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fentanyl Dealers Increasingly Facing Homicide Charges Over Overdose Deaths
CBS News ^ | February 20, 2024 | Carter Evans, Andres Triay

Posted on 02/20/2024 10:43:06 PM PST by nickcarraway

As the fentanyl crisis continues across the country, a new task force in Los Angeles is holding dealers accountable —not for selling drugs, but for murder.

As Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lieutenant Bobby Dean explains, fentanyl provides an "extremely potent high, it is dirt cheap and it is incredibly easy to get."

He also warned, "It's a hundred times more powerful than morphine. And it will kill you in an instant if you get a bad batch."

Dean leads the task force that investigates fentanyl deaths in Los Angeles County with the aim of bringing charges against dealers.

"They are absolutely approached like a homicide," he told CBS News. "It is a death investigation."

In Los Angeles County, the sheriff's department investigates hundreds of fentanyl deaths a year. Sheriff Robert Luna said the goal is to have dealers face homicide charges, a growing strategy nationwide.

"What is the difference between somebody who stabs you or shoots you or is selling you pills that highly likely will kill you?" Luna said.

In 2023, sheriff's deputies in LA County seized more than 3,000,000 fentanyl pills — 300,000 more than in 2022.

In an undercover street buy, deputies brought back a baggie with about 10 pills disguised as prescription pain medication inside. It cost $80, and the deputies say the bag contained enough fentanyl to kill up to 20 people.

One of the task force's cases is the death of Jax Markley, who died of fentanyl poisoning in 2022 at the age of 18.

Jax's mother, Daisy Markley, told CBS News she found her child "slumped over on the bed" in his room.

"I just screamed for my husband," she said.

Asked if he wanted to find the people who provided drugs to his son, Matt Markley told CBS News, "I wanted nothing less than to burn this person's world down."

"They know damn well how deadly these things are," he added.

Detectives arrested the person who allegedly gave Jax Markley the fatal fentanyl. She's awaiting trial in federal court.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: crime; drugs; fentanyl; murder
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

1 posted on 02/20/2024 10:43:06 PM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

>> “I wanted nothing less than to burn this person’s world down.”

Hold that thought... I want to burn Fentanyl World down completely, all the way back to China.


2 posted on 02/20/2024 10:45:07 PM PST by Nervous Tick ("First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people...": ISLAM is the problem!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nervous Tick
all the way back to China.

It's sad. They are doing it as revenge for when we did the same thing to them.

3 posted on 02/20/2024 10:54:24 PM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Nervous Tick
Won't happen. Too many US politicians are the recipients of drug-connected money. So easy to look the other way for a big payout. So easy to look the other way when the deal is plata o plombo.
4 posted on 02/20/2024 11:11:22 PM PST by Noumenon (You're not voting your way out of this. KTF)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Now the dealer, instead of being released on zero cash bail for drug dealing, will be released on zero cash bail for murder.

EC


5 posted on 02/20/2024 11:46:36 PM PST by Ex-Con777
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

“They are doing it as revenge for when we did the same thing to them.”

When exactly did America import poison into China?

L


6 posted on 02/20/2024 11:52:44 PM PST by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Lurker

The British and French pushed opium on them. For the PRC, there’s no difference between the British and French and us.


7 posted on 02/21/2024 12:01:35 AM PST by irishjuggler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
In 2023, sheriff's deputies in LA County seized more than 3,000,000 fentanyl pills — 300,000 more than in 2022.

Let me guess, much of that came via the Mexico border.

8 posted on 02/21/2024 12:11:30 AM PST by matt04 ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway; All

The way I see it, Biden should be held accountable as an accomplice to/for murder since he essentially encourages fentanyl coming into the country with his open borders policies.


9 posted on 02/21/2024 12:21:40 AM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lurker
When exactly did America import poison into China?

It started in the 1780s, when the U.S. was a new country. By the 1820's the U.S. accounted for 1/3 of all the opium smuggled into China. First they used Turkish opium, later opium from India.

And the wealthiest families were doing it. FDR's maternal grandfather made his money from the trade. John Jacob Astor was involved. That's how Thomas Jefferson's granddaughter's husband made his money. Even Washington Irving, the country's first great writer.

Interesting note: All the town's in the U.S. named Canton, and the neighborhood in Baltimore are named after Guangzhou, China.

10 posted on 02/21/2024 12:23:24 AM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: irishjuggler; Lurker
The British and French pushed opium on them.

Not true. The U.S. was in on it. By 1818, the U.S. had surpassed France in smuggling Opium into China. But Britain was always no. 1.

11 posted on 02/21/2024 12:25:18 AM PST by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I’m need to see some sources for that.

L


12 posted on 02/21/2024 1:07:50 AM PST by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Lurker; All

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_us.htm

https://www.britannica.com/topic/opium-trade/The-Opium-Wars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China

http://teachingresources.atlas.illinois.edu/chinatrade/introduction04.html


13 posted on 02/21/2024 1:25:15 AM PST by Drago
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

There should also be income tax evasion charges along with the drug dealing and murder. Those armed-to-the-teeth IRS agents need a target.


14 posted on 02/21/2024 1:45:50 AM PST by Bernard ("It ain't that there are too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” Twain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Within arm’s reach of Drug Boy’s body you’ll find his phone. Check the last few texts and you’ll find his dealer.


15 posted on 02/21/2024 2:14:49 AM PST by QBFimi (It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world... Tarfon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Fake news. The intentional murder by a dealer is so common it has a name “hotshot”. It is ignored in the reddest of states.
We are in the place where a person addicted to drugs is devalued even though they are someone’s son or daughter.


16 posted on 02/21/2024 4:00:06 AM PST by momincombatboots (BQEphesians 6... who you are really at war with. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

so the dealers controllers and facilitators are starting to feel the legal heat and are trying to “firewall” it at the street level


17 posted on 02/21/2024 4:02:44 AM PST by mo ("If you understand, no explanation is needed; if you don't understand, no explanation is possible)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Fascinating and saddening at the same time. And I had never heard of any American involvement in the opium trade.

All which I had known that it was mainly done by the British, it caused a massive social calamity in China, and this is the reason that China is not an Anglophile nation - to this day.


18 posted on 02/21/2024 4:08:02 AM PST by Menes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: momincombatboots

“even though they are someone’s son or daughter.”

Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mao were each someone’s son ...


19 posted on 02/21/2024 5:32:00 AM PST by catnipman (A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I think portugal got it right.

Severely penalize dealers.

Mandatory rehab for users who are caught using or possessing.

It has had a good result there.

Here, we criminalize everything, fill jails, ruin lives.


20 posted on 02/21/2024 6:08:15 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson