Riverside DA files rare murder charges in fentanyl death

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin has filed second-degree murder charges against an alleged drug dealer accused of selling pills laced with fentanyl to a teenager who died of an overdose last year.

The charges against Joseph Michael Costanza, who pleaded not guilty to homicide and other charges at his arraignment Monday, are the first of their kind in Riverside County, Hestrin said at a news conference. Similar charges have been filed by at least two other county DAs, as overdose deaths from the synthetic opioid that can be up to 100 times more toxic than morphine have skyrocketed across California in recent years.

Murder charges in such cases have been rare but prosecutors are arguing that the defendants knew the drugs could cause death, and are supporting legislation to make convictions on those grounds more likely.

Hestrin also has worked with the U.S. attorney's office to combat the increases in deaths from the drug.

According to the California Department of Public Health, 1,603 people died of a fentanyl overdose in 2019, the latest year data is made available, up from 104 five years before. And that spike is happening across the state and not just in hotbeds like San Francisco, which saw fentanyl overdose deaths jump from six in 2014 to 196 in 2019.

In Riverside County, more than 220 people died of a fentanyl overdose last year, up from two people in 2016, according to Sheriff Chad Bianco. He said Monday the spike has become such a concern that "every death caused by fentanyl toxicity is being investigated as a potential homicide."

Hestrin said the charges he filed Monday are rare due to provisions in the state's Penal Code that make murder difficult to prove in these cases.

"In order to file murder charges in a case like this, we have to show that the defendant had specific knowledge, not general knowledge, of the dangers of selling fentanyl, that it could result in someone's death, and that having that in mind, he chose to disregard that," Hestrin said.

The same challenge used to apply to filing homicide charges in driving under the influence cases that resulted in death, Hestrin said, until the law was changed to require convicts to sign an admonishment stating they understand it's dangerous to drink and drive and people can die as a result.

Pointing to a proposed measure introduced in the state Legislature last week, Hestrin said he believes "that's where we're headed with fentanyl."

SB 350, written by Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, would require courts to issue a similar advisory to anyone convicted of selling or distributing controlled substances warning them that their actions could result in death and lead to a homicide charge. If the measure becomes law, prosecutors would have a lower burden to prove defendants knew they could be held liable for someone's death but disregarded it by choosing to sell illegal drugs.

Still, some prosecutors, including Hestrin, say with enough investigative work, it is possible to meet the existing legal standard to prosecute drug dealers for murder.

Last November, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton charged a 22-year-old woman with murder after her toddler consumed fentanyl she was allegedly selling and died while under her supervision. Deputy District Attorney Derek Butts said in a statement at the time the charges were filed stating even if Genesis Barrera-Galdamez didn't intend to kill her child, she was aware "her fentanyl possession and use was dangerous to human life and despite this knowledge, exposed [her child] to the danger which ultimately led to his death."

Another 22-year-old from Paso Robles was charged with murder after he allegedly sold three counterfeit pills which appeared to be prescription pills but were instead laced with fentanyl to a teenager who died after taking one of them. San Luis Obispo County DA Dan Dow said in a statement that he charged Timothy Clark Wolfe last May under the theory that when he sold the pills, he knew, or should have known, that they contained fentanyl and were dangerous to human life.

"Individuals who knowingly sell these deadly pills in our community will be aggressively prosecuted and when the facts support it, they will be charged with murder," Dow said.

Hestrin would not comment on the evidence his prosecutors have in their case to show Costanza knew his alleged actions could cause death, but Bianco said there were seven overdoses at the defendant's house over the course of a year, two of which were fatal. People v. Joseph Michael Costanza, RIF21100641 (Riverside Sup. Ct. Filed Jan. 19, 2021).

"Those cases are still being investigated by us, but obviously it brought us to this one," Bianco said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Yang of the Central District of California said Hestrin has cross-designated one of his prosecutors to serve as a special assistant U.S. attorney to help federal prosecutors work on cases stemming from fentanyl trafficking.

Yang said fentanyl is "involved in more overdose deaths than any other illicit drug," adding that federal prosecutors have recently charged about a dozen cases of drug dealers suspected of distributing narcotics resulting in death, though he did not say how many of those were murder charges or which were fentanyl related.

Costanza was held on $1 million bail Monday, according to court records. His defense attorney, James L. Knox of Milligan Beswick Levine & Knox LLP, did immediately respond to a request for comment.