BURLINGTON COUNTY

Drug Overdose Liability: Darius Beckett, 29, of Trenton, was sentenced Friday to eight years of state incarceration for supplying the heroin that led to a Mansfield resident’s drug overdose death last summer. James “Boomer” Walton Jr., 25, died from fentanyl toxicity on Aug. 12, 2018. The police investigation revealed that the heroin that killed Walton was purchased from Beckett, who pleaded guilty in July to first-degree strict liability for drug-induced death and third-degree making terroristic threats. Under the sentence imposed by Burlington County Superior Court Judge Philip E. Haines, Beckett is subject to the state’s No Early Release Act and must serve 85 percent of the prison term behind bars before becoming eligible for parole. Mansfield Police responded to White Pine Road in the Columbus section of the township last summer for a report of an unresponsive adult male and found Walton in his bedroom with a hypodermic needle near his dead body. After months of investigation, authorities gained probable cause to arrest Beckett at his city residence on the 100 block of Academy Street in Trenton on Feb. 6. Beckett could have taken his case to trial but decided to plead guilty, confessing he is the drug dealer who sold the deadly batch of heroin to the late James “Boomer” Walton Jr. Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced Beckett’s eight-year prison sentence on Friday. “I’d like to acknowledge the outpouring of support for Boomer by so many of his family members and friends in court today, where his sister, Kylie, so eloquently expressed their profound loss,” Coffina said Friday in a press statement. “We are doing everything within our power to help end the misery and destruction caused by opioids and other illicit drugs. Prosecuting dealers whose products lead to fatal overdoses will continue to be a top priority of our office.”