BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — A man who was found guilty of killing a woman he supplied fentanyl to was sentenced to prison Thursday.
Sammy Valdez was found guilty in October of manslaughter, distribution of fentanyl and distribution of cocaine. He was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for manslaughter and two years for the other counts, to be served at the same time.
> The video above is from October, when Valdez was convicted
Prosecutors said on March 19, 2020, police responded to a home in Lafayette after a man woke up to his girlfriend not breathing. The victim was later pronounced dead.
The victim’s boyfriend told police he had bought what he believed to be oxycodone pills from Valdez. The victim had taken one pill before going to bed, prosecutors said.
When the crime took place in 2020, few dealers had ever been charged with killing someone they provided drugs to. Under the law at the time, the maximum sentence the court could impose was six years in prison for manslaughter, prosecutors said.
Had the crime happened after Colorado's fentanyl law was enacted in 2022, Valdez could have faced a longer sentence, prosecutors said.
"He certainly knew that the pills contained fentanyl and he failed to communicate that to her boyfriend who was buying those pills. In fact, he misrepresented what was in those pills when he sold them to the boyfriend," Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said after Valdez pled guilty in October. "If this crime had been committed after the bill was signed by the governor, we would’ve been able to charge drug distribution resulting in death. But under the law at the time Mr. Valdez committed this particular crime, he was charged with manslaughter for causing the death of this young woman."
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