Bill aimed at drug dealers dies in Va. Senate
Panel defeats legislation to expand use of murder charge for ODs
R I C H M O N D — A Virginia Senate committee narrowly defeated legislation Wednesday that would expand the circumstances in which a drug dealer could be charged with felony homicide in connection with a user’s death.
The bill, a priority of Gov. Glenn Youngkin and fellow Republicans, was pitched as a deterrent to criminals that would save lives amid the rising tide of overdoses deaths, particularly those attributable to fentanyl. But the Democrats on the committee who voted it down voiced skepticism that stiffer penalties, rather than an approach focused on substance abuse treatment, would effectively address the root causes of the issue.
“I think the policy difference that we’re encountering in committee here is, what’s the right way to attack this? And do we attack it the way we attacked things in the ’90s?” said Senate Democratic Leader Scott Surovell, who heads the committee.
The bill essentially sought to overrule a 2014 Court of Appeals decision that put time and place limits on how far removed a dealer could be from a user’s death to still be charged with felony homicide, bill sponsor Sen. Ryan McDougle said.
McDougle, the Senate’s Republican leader, and others who testified in support of his bill told the committee that if a dealer sold drugs to an individual, left the scene and the purchaser died afterward, the dealer could not be charged with felony murder, which carries a 5- to 40-year sentence. But if a person shared drugs with friends at a party, and someone died during the party, the person who provided the drugs could face that charge.
“We were hoping that this bill would pass to say that regardless of how far away you get, or how long it was, if your drugs are the poison that killed somebody, you should be held accountable,” said Nate Green, the commonwealth’s attorney for Williamsburg and James City County, who advocated for the measure.
Lawmakers heard testimony from roughly 10 people who said they had lost a child or loved one to a drug overdose. Some speakers held photos of their relatives and pleaded with lawmakers to support the bill.
Shawn Weneta, a lobbyist for the ACLU of Virginia, warned the committee that the measure could have a chilling effort on reporting or seeking help on behalf of people in an overdose because of the fear of punishment.
“Unfortunately, what this is going to do is lead to situations where people are not going to report. They’re going to abandon them,” he said.
Surovell, who expressed sympathy for the victims’ families, said he had “communicated” to Youngkin that a better place to find common ground with the General Assembly’s Democratic majority would be focusing more resources “to catch the people who do this.”
He said he hoped policymakers would also invest more money in mental health to “reduce pressure on the demand side of the equation.”
The committee voted 8-7 to pass by the bill, with Democrat Russet Perry, a former prosecutor, voting with Republicans. The committee did advance a separate measure from Sen. Bill DeSteph, a Republican from Virginia Beach, that would create a task force to study ways to combat fentanyl, heroin and other similar controlled substances after amending it to remove provisions similar to McDougle’s bill.
Lawmakers have grappled with the question for years. In 2019, then-Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, vetoed a similar measure after lawmakers rejected his attempt to amend it. Last year, a similar measure was defeated.
Youngkin has made the matter a vocal priority during his time in office. His spokesman, Christian Martinez, said in a statement that it was “troubling that most Democrat legislators are once again siding with fentanyl makers and dealers over victims’ families.”