District Attorney Hoovler Announces Guilty Pleas to Homicide and Drug Sale Charges in Case Which Resulted in Fatal Overdose
Washingtonville Man pleads guilty to Manslaughter in the Second Degree and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree for Selling Fentanyl to Man who Died After Ingesting the Drug
Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, Timothy Lempicki, age 36, of Washingtonville, pled guilty in Orange County Court to the crimes of Manslaughter in the Second Degree and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree in connection with the death of a man who was found dead in the Town of New Windsor, on July 17, 2022. An autopsy revealed that the man had died due to a fatal overdose of the powerful narcotic fentanyl. At the time that he pled guilty, Lempicki admitted that on July 16, 2022, in the Village of Washingtonville, he had sold the fentanyl to the deceased man. Lempicki also admitted that at the time sold the drug, he knew, and consciously disregarded, a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the drug might have a lethal effect on the person he sold it to. Lempicki is next scheduled to appear in Court for sentencing on June 24, 2024. Under the terms of the plea agreement that was placed on the record at the time that Lempicki pleaded guilty, the District Attorney’s Office will recommend that he be sentenced to two to six (2-6) years in prison on the class C felony of Manslaughter in the Second Degree and three (3) years in prison and two (2) years of post-release supervision on the class B felony ofCriminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree.
An investigation into the circumstances under which the man died was conducted by the Village of Washingtonville Police Department and the Town of New Windsor Police Department, who were aided by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Orange County Medical Examiner. The matter was investigated and presented to an Orange County Grand Jury.
District Attorney Hoovler thanked the Village of Washingtonville Police Department and the Town of New Windsor Police Department for their investigation into the fatal overdose, and the Village of Washingtonville Police Department for their arrest of Lempicki.
Since 2014, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office has been following the same protocols when assisting its law enforcement partners who are investigating fatal overdoses as they do in homicide cases. This includes drafting search warrants and other documents to ensure that the locations where the narcotics were sold and ingested, as well as locations where people succumbed to overdoses, can be processed as crime scenes and that all available potential evidence is preserved. In some situations, New York State law does not permit the filing of homicide charges against those who sold the narcotics which have resulted in death. In those cases where homicide charges can be filed, the charge is frequently the class C felony of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, or the E felony of Criminally Negligent Homicide, which are lower classes of felonies than the class B felony of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree. Some states, including New Jersey, have laws which enact a strict liability standard, and impose enhanced punishment on those who sell narcotics to someone who dies as a result. New York Law imposes no such strict liability standard on those who sell drugs which result in fatal overdoses.
“The lethal nature of fentanyl has been well documented and well publicized, and this defendant knew the danger he was placing the victim in when he sold these drugs,” said District Attorney David M. Hoovler. “Drug dealers must be held accountable for the death and damage that they cause. In those cases where we can prove that drug traffickers consciously disregarded the risk that their actions would result in the deaths that resulted from their drug dealing, we will continue to bring appropriate homicide charges. In my opinion, New York State laws are in some respects inadequate to address the harm and death that drug traffickers all too often cause when they sell these lethal substances. The Legislature in New York State would do well to examine statutes enacted in other jurisdictions to address the issue of those who kill by dealing narcotics. That would be a substantial step in protecting New Yorkers who might fall victim to these substances.”