21 year old gets life for heroin sale that killed teen

We give a fuck because we're all part of the drug culture. If it can happen to him, it can happen to us. Caring about an issue shouldn't hinge on it being personal. Just ask the jews about that one.

Anyway, I always wandered why politicians can't just use logic when it comes to legislation. I guess the responses by some people in this thread proves why. You could explain something a million times, some people just won't get it. Fuck, we got a long road to go.
 
^Yes, it is an injustice, even though it doesn't affect use directly we should still care. Strangers still deserve sympathy and fair treatment. You can say "fuck it" because you don't know him or because you'll never sell heroin, but that is very selfish.
 
actually, there have been cases where the bartender was tried and convicted for manslaughter after he/she let someone drink to immense intoxication and drive and that person either killed themself or someone else.

i would like to say that this is much like the cases where people sued McDonalds for making them too fat, and that people should start taking some responsibility for their own actions, but its hard to considering that these are substances that impair your judgement. At some point, it is not really "you" who makes the decision to keep drinking/shooting, and someone else should take responsbility (btw, the charge of manslaughter is mostly applied when someone wasn't responsible when they should have been, which would apply to this case). i know many people won't agree with this, but this is just my opinion. how many times have you heard people say, "It wasn't my fault, I was drunk!" ? there comes a point when people cannot really be accountable for their own decision when intoxicated.

Cerp said:
Heroin is JUST as safe as other legal
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i highly doubt that, just my opinion though. i do think that many doctor's and medical experts would agree with me though, and not just because heroin is illegal and they bash any non-legal drug.

Cerp said:
To be honest, I don't even think he should have been convicted for "selling a controlled substance"
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why? whether you agree with heroin being illegal or not,
he sold a substance, that is illegal. why shouldn't he be convicted for it?

Cerp said:
The fact that the 17 year old was a "minor", and the 21 year old was a "adult" should not be a factor either, because the only thing that legally defines an adult or a minor is a age
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So I guess it would be okay to sell a 2 year old heroin, as long as they are knowledgable about drug use?? I agree that is sometimes hard to draw a line between minor and adult, but do you agree that there at least has to be a line? This is off topic. The issue is whether the drug dealer should be charged with manslaughter, not whether there should be age laws.
 
As long as the substance is what you wanted, you can only blame the user for what happened. YOU USE DRUGS AT YOUR OWN RISK.


Suppose the user died from endocarditis, thrombosis, AIDS, etc. Is anyone gonna try to trace that shit back and see who taught you to shoot up, or who gave you AIDS? No, it is then understood that all those are the nature of the beast. So are fuckin' ODs. Who depressed the plunger is accountable.

Now, of course all of this changes with deception. Such as the fentdope going around. But that's a completely different thread.
 
i highly doubt that, just my opinion though. i do think that many doctor's and medical experts would agree with me though, and not just because heroin is illegal and they bash any non-legal drug.
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You are 100% completely wrong.
 
im wrong to think that doctors and medical experts would disagree with the statement that heroin is just as safe as legal drugs if used properly?
 
I think this should have been included in the first post.

Eugene Atkins will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted in federal court of five felonies related to the drug overdose death of Matt McKinney.

"It's a mandatory life sentence because he had a prior felony drug conviction," said Assistant US Attorney Ray Beckering after the verdict. There is no possibility of parole.

Federal prosecutors say they twice offered Atkins, 21, plea agreements. "The second time Mr. Atkins did in fact enter a plea of guilty, pursuant to this plea agreement. However, he withdrew his plea, fired his lawyer, and proceeded to trial on all charges," Beckering said.

Had he taken the plea agreement, Atkins would have served only 12 to 15 years.

McKinney's friend, Christopher Perrin, admitted to police he was with McKinney in Grandville the night they bought and used the heroin. Perrin, however, cut a deal with prosecutors and pled guilty to lying to police about the commission of a felony. Perrin was sentenced to two years.
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Simpsons, you're [Edit, no personal attacks]. You say he's not a murderer, yet you show zero simpathy for him. He got sentenced as a murderer, not just a drug seller. Understand? He'll be in jail for life. So do you agree that he should be in for life or not? If you just think he deserves a sentence for his crime of selling drugs, then you would show more simpathy because he didn't get nailed as a drug seller, but as a murderer, which is fucked up. Selling drugs isn't so bad that its worthy of a life sentence.

And why are some people so stuck on legality? One substance being legal doesn't make it more safe or anything. Alcohol or nicotine is just as harmful as some of the illegal stuffs. Why aren't we after the retailers of alcohol or nicotine? Because, we know that its a matter of personal responsibility.
 
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Also the kid who died is 17 years old. So if a 17 year old dies, its a life sentence, but if its an 18 year old, only one year older, its a totally different sentence because he's not a minor. Does this make sense to anyone? In both cases, human life is lost, yet because of one year, it makes the difference between a life sentence and a different sentence.

The disparity beteen one consequence and another is too great. Total lack of juctice.
 
Anything involving someone being punished for the use or sale of or communication about drugs is not justice. There's no ethical standpoint one can take in a free society that would make drug laws right.
 
I thought I might clarify a bit, i live just down the street from the guy who prosecuted this case... the issue surrounding this case is not so much cruel sentencing as it is racially implicated. The beef many people have with this is that the urban, poor black guy gets double life and the white, suburban youth gets two years. Black guy sells to white kid, white kid distributes to friend who overdoses. White kid A then juices and leaves his buddy stone cold in the car. Now the court implies that the kid's death was the dealer's responsibility when the the two never even met, it was the white kid who gave the smack directly to the kid. It doesn't seem equal in the eyes of many, the court goes all out on the black dealer and goes easy on the white guy. Granted, the accused had a prior criminal history, and it is not at all unusual for federal courts to give life sentences to recitivist street dealers, but people see this other kid get off with virtually nothing for practically the same offense- supplying illegal drugs leading to death.
 
^ thanks for the clarification, I wasn't sure about what part the friend played in it. This makes it even worse if the dealer never even met the kid that died and didn't directly sell him any drugs
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So, you could look at it as going after the dealer's dealer. Even though the friend wasn't actually a drug dealer, he did what a drug dealer does......supplied another person with drugs.

But yea, when they haven't even met that is total bullshit.
 
Let's change the scenario slightly:

White dealer.

Black buyer.

Black friend of buyer.

White dealer would be charged with sale of narcotics.

Black friend would go to jail for life for "providing the narcotics."

Society would be pleased because the white guy is out on the street in 18 months, and two black guys are, for all practical purposes, dead.

This reminds me of an incident in California in 1989 where a street crimes unit cornered a couple of perps. The cops opened fire, killing one perp and later charging the other with his murder.
 
jimmyHIP said:
Yeah, right, it's obscene that a 21 year old got life in jail for "merely selling some heroin"

don't do the crime if you can't do the time, right? he's a smack dealer and now he's in jail.

if you're selling a drug that obviously can kill somebody, it's time to face the music when the drugs YOU sold someone kills them.
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Any drug can kill someone, any drug can also save a person! I am not here to say that herion is saving lives but i am saying that there are many personal choices that we make in life that can have dire consequences, sure if the dealer had put the needle in his arm i would agree, however that kid happily utilised the herion sold to him and it was his behaviour and body which caused the event that followed, how many other people had bought smack from that dealer that day and not died? in other words it was this users actions that caused his death, i cant see how we can blame this on a dealer in a forum such as this...
Yes he should do the time for being found guilty of selling smack HOWEVER he did not murder (pre meditate the killing) or kill the user the person who killed the user was the user and i cant see how this is not clear in everybodies minds!
 
Annual Deaths in Britain 2005
Tobacco: 100,000
Alcohol: 6,000
Heroin: 652

Now can someone tell me what the legality of the substance has to do with anything?

This sentence is ridiculous, even for a priorly convicted felon.
 
kittyinthedark said:
Annual Deaths in Britain 2005
Tobacco: 100,000
Alcohol: 6,000
Heroin: 652

Now can someone tell me what the legality of the substance has to do with anything?

This sentence is ridiculous, even for a priorly convicted felon.
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Well since millions more people in briton smoke and drink alcohol than take herion then them statistics are bad for herion.
 
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