North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services

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Death by Distribution

Contents:


Reports and Publications

Trainings

  • Investigating and Certifying Drug Caused and Related Deaths: 2026 Updates and Challenges, CFSRE
    Free 10-part webinar series on toxicology and drug-related deaths offered by CFSRE
  • Defending Drug Overdose Homicides Trainings, NACDL
    Free recorded presentations, sample pleadings and more offered by NACDL
  • Webinar Series: Critical Issues in Drug Related Deaths, CFSRE

    10-part free webinar series running from Apr. 1 – July 30, 2025 Registration here. The series focuses on improvements to accuracy and consistency in recording cause and manner of death in drug toxicity cases. The sessions will address the complex and variable supply of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and the proliferation of other drug classes including novel benzodiazepines, cathinone stimulants, hallucinogens, and adulterants such as xylazine, medetomidine, and various other novel synthetic opioids. Presentations feature recognized experts in forensic pathology, medicolegal death investigation and toxicology, as well as adjacent fields such as epidemiology, public health, and medical toxicology.

Websites

Cases

  • State v. Anderson, 294 N.C. App. 125 (2024) (unpublished)

    Unpublished Court of Appeals opinion addressing proximate cause, chain of causation, intervening acts, and jury instructions on intervening cause and involuntary manslaughter.

  • State v. McCrorey, 291 N.C. App. 650 (2023)

    Court of Appeals decision finding that circumstantial evidence supported the conclusion that defendant sold fentanyl instead of heroin to the victim. The court also noted “[w]hile the evidence does not foreclose the possibility that fentanyl may not have been the sole cause of [the victim’s] death, there is ample evidence to support a conclusion that it was, in fact, fentanyl that killed [the victim].” Slip Op. at 9. The Court rejected the defendant’s argument that he could not foresee that the victim would consume all the drugs at once. The court found sufficient evidence to submit the question of proximate cause to the jury.   

  • State v. McCrorey transcript excerpt

    Testimony of Dr. Jonathan Privette (forensic pathologist) and Dr. Justin Brower (forensic toxicologist) re: fentanyl overdose, mixing of fentanyl and cocaine

Motions and Briefs

  • Affidavit of Jennifer Carroll, PhD, MPH, MA

    Addresses public health consequences of laws creating criminal liability for accidental drug overdose and provides research supporting the following conclusions:

    • Controlled substance homicide laws are inequitably enforced and charges brought under these laws represent extreme racial bias;
    • Prosecutors who file controlled substance homicide charges are often motivated by false beliefs about the public health benefits such laws that are not supported by any systematic or scientific evidence;
    • Controlled substance homicide laws undermine the effects of state 911 Good Samaritan Laws, which are well-tested and well-proven policy-level overdose-prevention strategies;
    • Controlled substance homicide laws and charges brought under those laws increase the risk of overdose in the surrounding community; and
    • The premise that drug suppliers and people who use drugs are distinct populations analogous to “exploiters” and “exploited victims” is false, does not reflect the realities of substance use in a criminalized market, and causes excess harm against people who use drugs, including excess overdose.
  • Appellant Reply Brief in State v. Anderson

    Addresses defendant’s motion to dismiss where evidence on causation was insufficient, failure to instruct the jury on intervening acts of others, failure to instruct the jury on lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter when the evidence of malice was in conflict, and court’s failure to intervene in state’s closing argument. Reply Brief filed in June 2023 in 2017 case.

  • Appellant Brief in State v. Anderson

    Appellant’s Brief addressing trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss where the state did not prove the defendant’s actions proximately caused the decedents’ deaths and another individual’s actions were a superseding cause of the decedents’ deaths which broke the chain of causation. Also addresses trial court’s failure to instruct on whether intentional acts by another individual and the decedents were intervening and superseding causes of their deaths. Finally, the brief addresses the trial court’s failure to instruct on the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter where the evidence of malice was in conflict. Brief filed in Jan. 2023 in 2017 case.

  • Appellant Brief in State v. McCrorey

    Addresses complex chain of causation, proximate cause, identify of the controlled substance, and cause of death. Brief filed in Aug. 2023 in 2020 case.

  • Amicus Brief in Commonwealth v. Carrillo

    Addresses strict liability crime for drug sharers created by Massachusetts death by distribution statute and public health implications of drug induced homicide statutes. By MA Public Counsel Services and Health in Justice Action Lab, MA Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Filed in Jan. 2019.

Pattern Jury Instructions

Statutes and Legislation

Death by Distribution in the News