People v. Nere, 2018 IL 122566 (September). Episode 541 (Duration 26:58)

Prepare for a PhD on criminal causation in this drug overdose case.

Gist

Defendant was charged with drug-induced homicide after her friend overdosed.

Facts

The victim died in the bathroom of her mother’s apartment in Wheaton.

Friends and family had gathered to celebrate her release from prison. Taylor and other family members had gathered there to celebrate Taylor’s release from prison the previous day. The victim called defendant to arrange a ride home for the victim’s girlfriend.

Defendant gave heroin, crack cocaine, a syringe, and a crack pipe to the victim when she arrived at the residence. The pipe and syringe were wrapped in a dirty sock that had blood on it. Taylor then went back into the apartment, told her children that she was going to take a shower, and told her nephew that he needed to get out of the bathroom. Taylor went into the bathroom and, approximately 15 minutes later, turned on the shower.

The Bathroom

After talking to the victim’s girlfriend over the phone the nephew alerted his grandmother and other family members, and several of them began trying to enter the locked bathroom.

They eventually removed the doorknob but still could not open the door. Joshua called 911. Officers arrived and forced the door open. Victim was unresponsive. The officers carried her to the living room and performed CPR. Paramedics arrived a few minutes later and transported her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Physical Evidence

The officers collected from the bathroom a bloodstained sock, a glass pipe, a small plastic bag, cigarettes, a lighter, a drug-cooking spoon, a syringe, and two foil bindles containing heroin residue. A DNA analysis of the blood on the sock came back as a match for defendant.

The Cause of Death

The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy testified that the victim died of heroin and cocaine intoxication due to intravenous drug use. The victim had fresh needle puncture wounds on her arm.

The pathologist testified that it was clear that she had recently ingested heroin. When 6-MAM and morphine are found in the blood, the conclusion is usually that they both came from ingesting heroin. If enough time has passed, only morphine will appear in the blood. The significance of 6-MAM is that it shows recent use of heroin.

There is no “safe” amount of heroin to ingest, and a person can die from taking their usual amount. The amount of heroin ingested by the victim could have been fatal by itself. It was also possible that the victim had consumed drugs earlier in the day.

Sentence

A DuPage County jury convicted defendant of drug-induced homicide (720 ILCS 5/9-3.3(a)). She was sentenced to 9 years.

Issue

The main issue in this case revolves around how we define causation in a drug-induced homicide and exactly what the jury instructions should say about this.

Specifically, the reviewing court had to consider whether the trial court erred in using IPI Criminal 4th No. 7.15 (Supp. 2011) to define causation rather than instructing the jury according to the principles set forth by the Supreme Court in Burrage. See Burrage v. United States, 571 U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 881 (2014).

The trial court was required to use this instruction rather than defendant’s proposed causation instructions if it contained a correct statement of the law. The principal question we must address, therefore, is whether IPI Criminal 4th No. 7.15 (Supp. 2011) properly sets forth the law of causation applicable to defendant’s case.

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