Barryville Man Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance for Selling Fentanyl to Man Who Died After Ingesting the Drug

Limitations in Laws Regarding Sale of Narcotics Leading to Death Precluded Additional Charges

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Thursday, January 4, 2024, Ralph Mann, age 37, of Barryville, was sentenced in Orange County Court to four (4) years in prison to be followed by two (2) years of post-release supervision relative to his previous plea of guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree.  Those charges were filed in connection with the death of a man who was found dead in the City of Port Jervis on May 11, 2022. An autopsy revealed that the man had died due to a fatal overdose of the powerful narcotic fentanyl.

An investigation into the circumstances under which the man died was conducted by City of Port Jervis Police Department, who were aided by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Orange County Medical Examiner.  During the course of the investigation, law enforcement discovered communications between the decedent and the defendant where the defendant agreed to sell the decedent the narcotics which ultimately caused his death.  The defendant later admitted to police that he had, in fact, sold the narcotics to the decedent.  Because of the facts and circumstances of this case, the most serious charges that were supported under the law were those charges to which the defendant ultimately pled guilty.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office follows the same protocols when assisting its law enforcement partners who are investigating fatal overdoses as they do in homicide cases.  This includes drafting search warrants and other documents to ensure that the locations where the narcotics were sold and ingested, as well as locations where people succumbed to overdoses, can be processed as crime scenes and that all available potential evidence is preserved.  Often, New York State law does not permit the filing of homicide charges against those who sold the narcotics which have resulted in death.  In limited situations, some homicide charges can be filed, but those typically include the class C felony of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, or the class E felony of Criminally Negligent Homicide, which are lower classes of felonies than the class B felony of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree. Some states, including New Jersey, have laws which enact a strict liability standard, and impose enhanced punishment on those who sell narcotics to someone who dies as a result. New York Law imposes no such strict liability standard on those who sell drugs which result in fatal overdoses.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the City of Port Jervis Police Department for their investigation and arrest of Mann.

“We will do everything in our power to hold drug dealers accountable for the death and destruction they wreak,” said District Attorney David M. Hoovler. “Fentanyl has flooded our communities and far too often led to needless deaths.  While law enforcement and prosecutors are doing everything we can to stem the tide of the fentanyl crisis, we have increasingly seen the inadequacies in New York State laws relative to the harm and death that drug traffickers cause when they sell these lethal substances.  I urge lawmakers in Albany to consider adopting statutes such as those enacted in other jurisdictions to address the issue of those who kill others by dealing them drugs. Having such tools available to prosecutors would allow a more proportional response to the harms we see play out every day.”

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Janine Kovacs.

This criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.