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Fentanyl Murder Ballot Initiative Launched

Posted: Nov. 17, 2023 12:17 AM PST

Signature gathering has begun for a proposed November 2024 ballot measure inspired by the epidemic of fentanyl overdose deaths. It would increase minimum sentences, statewide, and allow murder prosecutions in certain instances, also in deaths from the overdose of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and PCP. Nevada County District Attorney Jesse Wilson agrees that more flexibility is needed…

click to listen to Jesse Wilson

The proposal would require the courts to advise individuals convicted of non-lethal offenses related to these drugs that they can be charged with murder in the future if someone dies…

click to listen to Jesse Wilson

Counties can already file murder charges in certain overdose deaths. Placer County recently got the first conviction in California regarding a fentanyl case. Wilson says there have been no such prosecutions in Nevada County so far that had sufficient evidence. The ballot measure would codify such discretions into state law, with a new mandatory minimum 10-to-12-year prison sentence.

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