Elmwood Park NJ Man Charged with Two Counts of Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Deaths in Passaic County

Screen Shot 2015-10-20 at 4.01.09 PM.pngAccording to the information released thus far, a thirty-eight (38) year old male from Elmwood Park, New Jersey has been charged with two counts of strict liability for drug induced deaths. This statute dates back to 1987 however up until recently it has never really been used by prosecutors. The statute seeks to attack and deter the mid-level street dealers from distributing drugs. This has been the prosecutors new tool to try and combat the heroin epidemic that New Jersey as a whole has been facing. The Defendant is alleged to have sold the lethal doses of heroin to two separate individuals, one a twenty-four year old male from Paterson and the other a twenty-three year old from Clifton. The statute in essences holds the dealers responsible if a “customer” overdoses. Strict liability drug induced death is a second degree felony in New Jersey. If convicted, a Defendant faces up to ten (10) years in a New Jersey State Prison. In addition, this offense falls under the No Early Release Act (NERA) which in essence requires a Defendant to serve at least 85% of their sentence before they can become eligible for parole. The Defendant currently is being held in the Passaic County Jail on a $300,000 bail. 

Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Death Defense Lawyers in Bergen County NJ

The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall has eight criminal defense lawyers on staff. This makes our criminal defense firm one of the largest in the State let alone Bergen County. Our attorneys have been defending clients charged with criminal offenses like aggravated assault, heroin possession, marijuana distribution, cocaine possession and eluding for over a decade. If you have been arrested and charged with a criminal offense in towns like Mahwah, Bergenfield, Fair Lawn, Englewood, Paramus or elsewhere in Bergen County, we can help. For a free consultation, please contact our Hackensack office at 1-800-682-4037