Bill would allow drug dealers to be charged with first-degree murder
Rep. Scott Plakon
Charging drug dealers with first-degree murder for a customer’s fatal overdose would be easier under a measure approved by a House panel.
The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Subcommittee voted 14-4 on October 21 to approve HB 95 by Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood.
“By this time tomorrow morning, more than a dozen Floridians will be dead as a result of drug overdoses,” Plakon told the panel. “In each of these tragedies, drug dealers make a profit from the pain of Florida’s families.”
The proposal takes aim at a 1972 law that requires a defendant’s actions to be the “proximal” cause of a fatal overdose, something that prosecutors say is difficult to prove when a victim’s blood shows traces of multiple substances.
Borrowing from civil statutes, the proposed bill would change the standard to “substantial factor.” Substantial factor would mean “use of the substance or mixture alone is sufficient to cause death, regardless of whether any other substance or mixture used is also sufficient to cause death.”
Other provisions would add methamphetamine to the list of controlled substances enumerated in the statute and enhance criminal penalties for selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a drug rehab facility.
Both provisions were recommended by the Statewide Task Force on Opioid Abuse that Gov. Ron DeSantis created in 2019.
Plakon said he was merely updating the law to reflect the intent of the authors — Democrats who held majorities in both chambers at the time.
“If you are delivering these substances, and somebody dies, that should be a first-degree penalty, so this I would see is a clarification and a modernization,” Plakon said.
Democrats and some Republicans said the measure would go too far by making non-violent drug offenders eligible for the death penalty, or a mandatory life sentence.
The measure was supported by the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, the Florida Sheriffs Association, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Opponents included the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the ACLU, and the Florida Conference of NAACP Chapters.
Rep. Michael Grieco, D-North Bay Village, said he was disappointed that the first measure the committee debated ahead of the 2022 session runs counter to recent criminal justice reforms.
“I think we’re going in the wrong direction,” he said. “We’ve spent the past few years in a bipartisan manner rethinking the way we approach non-violent drug offenses, and here we are enhancing penalties again.”
A defense attorney and former prosecutor, Grieco said criminal law standards are meant to be stricter.
“The issue regarding taking language that is essentially solely used in toxic tort cases and medical malpractice cases, and bringing it into Florida criminal statutes, it gives me great pause,” he said.
But Rep. Mike Beltran, R-Valrico, said the concept makes sense.
A Harvard Law graduate, Beltran said prosecutors and judges have talked to him about the difficulty of charging dealers for fatal overdoses.
“This bill takes us very close to strict liability for drug dealers,” he said. “But to be honest, if any body needs to be held to a strict liability standard for the products that they sell, it’s the drug dealer.”
Rep. Andrew Learned, D-Riverview, said he supports adding methamphetamine to the statute. However, he said he is concerned about imposing mandatory sentences at a time when the Florida Department of Corrections is requesting $200 million to solve a staffing crisis.
“Let’s let the judge and jury look at the facts of the case, let’s let them do their job…so that we are not required to hold these people for the rest of their life if we don’t execute them,” Learned said.
Learned asked Plakon if he would support an amendment addressing the sentencing mandates.
Plakon said he is always willing to discuss his proposed legislation, but he sees no reason to weaken the sentencing provision.
“I’m not going to go into all of the evil that these people do,” he said. “So, I am good with the first degree for someone that causes the death of one of our loved ones.”
Rep. Joseph Casello, D-Boynton Beach, said he agrees with Plakon.
“Would it make somebody think twice about selling these drugs if they knew they could get the death penalty? I think so,” he said. “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.”
HB 95 faces stops in the Justice Appropriations Subcommittee and Judiciary before reaching the House floor.
A companion, SB 190 by Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary, has yet to receive a hearing. It has been referred to Judiciary, Criminal Justice and Rules.
The 60-day legislative session convenes January 11.
