husband facing murder charges for wifes heroin death

[clinton (OP)]

http://wtop.com/virginia/2016/03/man-faces-murder-charge-for-giving-wife-fatal-heroin-overdose/

MASSAPONAX, Va. — A Spotsylvania County man is facing a murder charge in connection with the death of his wife from a heroin overdose in February.

Detectives with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office were called to the couple’s home in the 11300 block of Pine Needle Court in the early morning hours of Feb. 26 for a report of a heroin overdose. On her oldest daughter’s birthday, 28-year-old Ashley Moore was dead.

Detectives also found the couple’s two young girls and several pieces of drug paraphernalia inside the home.

“It was completely out in the open for these children to see, watch and touch,” Lieutenant Liz Scott told WTOP. “These children grew up in this environment and were very knowledgeable about what their parents do on a daily basis, several times a day.”


One girl is of elementary school age, the other is a toddler.

The Sheriff’s Office says 39-year-old William Moore has admitted that he and his wife used heroin daily and that he had given Ashley Moore a lethal dose that night. He also admitting to buying and selling heroin.

Moore has been charged with felony murder, two counts of child endangerment, possession of heroin and possession with intent to distribute heroin. He was being held without bail at the Rappahannock Regional Jail.

“The two detectives that worked that case took time out of their own time to go provide some birthday gifts for the little girl,” Scott said. One these heartbroken detectives had three decades of service. “It was so tragic, it was so terrible that she basically lost both of her parents because of drug addiction.”

The two girls were not physically harmed in the incident and are now with other family members.

“These little girls, one of which was of an age where she knew a lot of information that a child of her age should not have known about needles and syringes and
sores on her parent’s body,” added Scott. “No child should have to know about that stuff.”

Since January 2015, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office says it has investigated 42 heroin overdoses — 11 were fatal.

“Certainly with the spotlight of heroin and opiate addiction and use right now, (Moore’s arrest and murder charge) is ultimately something that had to happen,” Scott
said. “The sheriff’s office along with other jurisdictions are taking the heroin and opiate epidemic very seriously.”

In a statement, Sheriff Roger Harris said the heroin epidemic affects communities nationwide, including Spotsylvania County.

“We are seeing people in all stages of life, across socio-economic lines suffering, and in some tragic cases, dying from this addiction,” he said.

Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.

 

[dizzle]

Interesting they charged him with MURDER, I've never seen that statute used on a person that supplied heroin for someone that OD'ed. The SA may end up regretting that, he probably won't get found guilty unless their murder statute is written VERY, VERY differently.



Couple of things we can learn from this people,

1: KNOW who you're selling your dope to

2: NEVER EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES admit to giving someone heroin that died, unless you see something called a "Proffer" signed by the county/federal SA/DA saying they won't charge you with XYZ and you have a lawyer examine that document. Hell, even if they didn't die, never ever admit to giving/selling heroin to anyone. Keep in mind, if the pigs are ASKING you, they don't have the proof, if they had the proof, there would be no discussion and you'd be sitting in a cell in county.

3: Keep your shit TIGHT, like, SUPER TIGHT, only keep shit in one or two different spots, use multiple cell phones (hopefully VOIP burners that connect to the network with TOR routing!), and ALWAYS BE ON GUARD. If you're slinging, think of it as a way of life, you can NEVER, NOT be on guard. EVER. Look at people you pass on the street, remmebr cars, faces, license plates, change up phone numbers regularly.

I could go on and on, maybe I'll make a thread with advice to young enterprising individuals that want to start the sale of illegal goods, and give some of the advice I've learned after years in the game. I'm out of it now, but I sure have some good tips for people.

[Roman Totale]

Charging it up to 2nd degree murder (recklessness rather than intent or knowledge) is getting more popular as this "epidemic" stays with us.  IIRC, I think it was in Jersey not that long ago, some far-sighted young prosecutor trying to make a name for himself was charging virtually EVERYONE arrested for sale of heroin with 2nd degree murder because a lot of people were having fatal ODs at the time from fentanyl cuts.

"Thankfully" I've only ever seen it as a specific charge (furnishing resulting in death) that was still a felony but with way more lenient sentencing options. 

But I think they'd always go for Murder 2 if they have evidence that someone gave someone else a fatal OD of dope he or she'd procured for the two of them, then plead it down to manslaughter (which can be worlds different in terms of sentencing depending on the state -- like 5 years versus LWOP) or even just delivery depending on the witnesses/evidence, unless of course it was a rich person who died.

[Zoops]

Yikes! This hits a little too close to home, both literally and figuratively.

[10kites]

"It was so tragic, so terrible that she basically lost both of her parents because of drug addiction."                                                                                                                     Ahhh, no, the children lost their parents because of something called the War on Drugs. If drugs were legalized and addiction was treated like a medical problem rather then a legal one, then shit like this would'nt happen.

I guess the kids would be called "collateral damage.'

[Guts]

"It was so tragic, so terrible that she basically lost both of her parents because of drug addiction."                                                                                                                     Ahhh, no, the children lost their parents because of something called the War on Drugs. If drugs were legalized and addiction was treated like a medical problem rather then a legal one, then shit like this would'nt happen.

I guess the kids would be called "collateral damage.'

Came here to say this. +1