Alexandra’s Law
who fatally overdosed in July 2020, according to Sheriff Chad Bianco.
Authorities were not as clear on the case of Tyrrell and Carlton. Hestrin, however, did say, “It looks like it’s going to fall under the same kind of rule as the Costanza case, and I will be prosecuting it the same way.”
Less than three weeks before Hestrin’s press conference announcing the murder charge against Costanza, a Riverside County task force, during raids in downtown Riverside and north San Diego County on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, respectively, seized a total of 3 kilos of fentanyl. The fentanyl seized in San Diego County was intercepted on the northbound 15 Freeway as it was being delivered to Riverside
County, authorities said.
Most fentanyl coming to the U.S. is produced in China and commonly transited through Mexico, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank on U.S. foreign policy and international affairs
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 36,000 people died in 2019 from overdoses involving synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl. Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. About 2 milligrams is a potentially fatal dose for most people. One teaspoon of fentanyl contains about 5,000 milligrams.
It has earned the grim term “one and done” because often someone’s first dose of fentanyl proves fatal.
“It is astounding the lethality of this substance,” Hestrin said.”There is no safe way to use drugs now. You’re going to get hurt. It’s as simple as that. And this stuff is spreading everywhere.”
He said the number of fentanyl-related deaths in Riverside County would be in the thousands if not for Narcan, a nasal spray used by first responders, even drug users and dealers themselves, that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
“If it weren’t for Narcan, there would be thousands and thousands of deaths,” Hestrin said. “There have been dealers who have died just packaging this stuff. A lot of dealers are carrying around Narcan.”
Last month, Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, introduced SB 350 to help combat fentanyl-related deaths. She named it Alexandra’s Law in honor of 20-year-old Alexandra Capelouto, a college student who died of a fentanyl overdose at her parents’ Temecula home while visiting for Christmas in 2019. Her father said she thought she had taken oxycontin.
The proposed legislation would require the court to issue a warning to firsttime offenders convicted of selling or distributing controlled substances that their actions could result in another person’s death and, if so, a murder charge could be filed against them.
Melendez knows her bill faces an uphill battle, but she was encouraged last week when Democratic Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, who represents Orange County’s coastal 74th District, signed on as a co-author. “I think the district attorneys certainly would welcome another tool in their toolbox with this legislation,” Melendez said.
Hestrin’s objective is simple: He hopes murder prosecutions will discourage drug suppliers from dealing fentanyl.
“What I am trying to do is protect the people of Riverside County,” said Hestrin, a former line prosecutor who has served as district attorney since 2015. “I’m going to do whatever I can to bring down the numbers in Riverside County and protect the families in this county, and drug dealers should know that.”