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Ed MorrisseyPosted at 9:21 am on April 1, 2021
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Could an alternate theory of the death of George Floyd introduce enough reasonable doubt to acquit Derek Chauvin? Or, perhaps, at least keep him from getting convicted on the murder charges? The defense certainly hope it does, and has already submitted documents to the court arguing that Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose.
The local NBC affiliate in Minneapolis covered the medical examiner’s report that noted a “fatal level” of the drug in Floyd’s system, but the report isn’t entirely good news for the defense either:
Since 1999, when the unconstrained prescription of painkillers was beginning to emerge as a public-health crisis, more than 535,000 lives have been lost to opioid overdoses. If that grim number seems familiar, itâs just a bit higher than COVID-19âs toll of 527,000 deaths so far.
COVID-19 and the opioid crisis are linked in other ways too. The pandemic has driven an alarming increase in overdose fatalities over the past year, as people struggling to recover from opioid dependence have been undone by isolation, job loss and the added difficulty of getting support and treatment with social distancing rules in effect. All this at a time when lethal illicit fentanyl is increasingly turning up in street narcotics, including counterfeit hydrocodone and oxycodone pills. The 12 months ending last July saw 61,000 deaths, a surge from the previous year â even though the period includes only the first five months of the pandemic.
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Johnson City Police say 53-year-old Bobby Williams was arrested March 9 at a Main Street store from which he had been previously banned.
Police say shortly after 6:30 p.m. they got a report of a disturbance at the store and found Williams was wanted on a warrant for petit larceny and he had 1.5 grams of Fentanyl in his possession, which he tried to dispose of.
Williams was released following his arraignment to wait for his next date in court.
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32-year-old Nicholas Mattucci of Binghamton is charged with felony drug possession after police found f4.3 grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle March 10.
Police say shortly after 7:30 p.m. they noticed a vehicle committing several traffic infractions and stopped the driver.
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After finding the meth in the vehicle, Mattucci was charged with felony criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was released after his arraignment.
Three Broome County residents were arrested on the evening of March 9 in the area of Reynolds Road when Village Police noticed a vehicle committing traffic infractions, stopped the car and found Fentanyl and prescription pills in the possession of the driver and two passengers, resulting in felony charges.
Three Face Drug Charges Following Johnson City Traffic Stop
Johnson City police arrested three Broome County residents after a vehicle was pulled over for traffic infractions.
Authorities say 29-year-old Timothy Robinson of Johnson City faces two felony counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Police say Robinson was a passenger in the vehicle that was stopped in the Reynolds Road area.
Robinson was found to be in possession of two baggies containing white powder. Investigators determined one was filled with fentanyl. The other turned out to be confectioners sugar.
The driver - 33-year-old Edward Blatchford of Endicott - was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance for allegedly possessing fentanyl.