Dealer gets six years after customer dies of fentanyl overdose

An ex-drug dealer who sold a lethal dose of fentanyl to a Sherwood Park man has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Jamie Michael Dixon was one of the first people charged in a fentanyl overdose death in Edmonton. Originally charged with manslaughter in the overdose death of 39-year-old Jody Angell, Dixon pleaded guilty in November 2019 to trafficking fentanyl and criminal negligence causing death.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Dixon met Angell in the parking lot of a strip mall near Whitemud Drive on Feb. 28, 2017, where he sold him $400 worth of a powdered “concoction” containing meth and fentanyl.

Once Dixon drove off, Angell snorted some of the powder and lost consciousness. Police discovered his body slumped over in his vehicle later that day.

Police contacted Dixon to set up a buy after finding his number on Angell's phone. Several days after Angell's death, Dixon sold a quarter ounce of meth to an undercover police officer, followed by a second, larger buy on March 15.

On Oct. 2, 2017, police arrested Dixon and charged him with manslaughter and three counts of trafficking.

Crown and defence painted two very different pictures of Dixon.

Defence lawyer Paul Moreau, who argued for two years in jail followed by three years of probation, said his client was himself a drug user who turned to dealing when his primary employment — construction — slowed during the recession.

In an email, Moreau called Dixon “another victim of the opioid crisis.”

“Struggling with his addiction, he sold narcotics to another person, also an addict, with tragic results, and he is filled with remorse for his actions.”

“Mr. Dixon has undergone extensive rehabilitation to recover from his addiction, but Mr. Angell will never have that opportunity. This case is nothing but tragic for everyone involved.”

Crown prosecutor James Stewart argued Dixon's crimes warranted a seven-year prison sentence. He argued there was no proof Dixon was simply a desperate man selling to support his addiction, noting the commercial-level dial-a-dope operation Dixon ran was relatively complex.

Stewart also noted Dixon's criminal record contained no convictions suggesting his addiction was spiralling out of control.

“What's absent from his record (are) offences suggesting he's hitting a rock bottom, and he resorts to selling drugs as a last resort to feed his habit,” Stewart said during a sentencing hearing in October.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Peter Michalyshyn agreed with the Crown that there was no evidence Dixon's crimes were driven by his addiction.

“I am … not satisfied that the evidence is that Mr. Dixon's criminal misconduct was largely precipitated by substance abuse,” he said.

He also rejected the idea Dixon was himself a victim of the opioid crisis.

Michalyshyn said Dixon's criminal record — including convictions for aggravated assault in 2010 and 2013 — was aggravating, but he did give Dixon credit for his guilty plea and expression of remorse to Angell's family.

Angell was a father and self-employed welder who worked primarily in the Fort Mcmurray area.

He became addicted to opioids after being prescribed a painkiller for a back injury, court documents state.

Edmonton police have charged just a handful of people with homicides linked to deadly overdoses. The first was Jordan Yarmey, who was charged with manslaughter in the 2016 overdose death of Szymon Kalich. He was sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to criminal negligence causing death.

Those who support prosecuting drug dealers for overdose deaths argue it deters crime and is an appropriate punishment. Others say it does nothing to deter drug selling, discourages people from calling 911 to report overdoses and contributes to over-incarceration of minorities.

Six-hundred-eighty-seven Albertans died of accidental opioid overdoses in 2017. In 2020, 904 died in the first nine months alone, making it the province's deadliest year ever for drug overdoses.

With credit for pretrial custody, Dixon has around four years remaining on his sentence.