Hudson Valley Woman Sold Fatal Drugs to Disabled Man

In a historic plea, a Hudson Valley woman admitted she sold drugs to a disabled man and helped him ingest them, which resulted in the man's death.

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On Thursday in Orange County Court, Katelynn Smith, 24, of Port Jervis pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and criminal sale of a controlled substance, in connection with the overdose death of a disabled Port Jervis man.

Smith confessed she illegally sold 12 oxycodone pills to a quadriplegic man in his Port Jervis home in April. She further admitted she helped the man take the pills by crushing them up and rolling up a dollar bill for him to snort all 12 crushed pills.

Smith also acknowledged she was aware the man was drinking vodka and took other medications including the sedative Klonopin.

Smith admitted that she then left the man’s home. The man later died. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a combination of oxycodone, alcohol and the active ingredient in Klonopin, officials say.

“Illegal drugs are destroying lives, families, communities,” Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said, “and drug dealers must be made to pay for the damage they are doing. Here, someone died as a result of this defendant’s actions in illegally selling him drugs. Sentences for selling drugs are one thing, but, hopefully, this case will send a message to all the illegal drug dealers out there: In appropriate cases, this office will seek to prosecute you not just for selling drugs, but for the deaths of those people that your drug dealing kills.”

According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Smith's guilty plea likely marks the first time someone has been convicted of homicide as a result of selling drugs.

The District Attorney’s Office will be recommending Smith receive a sentence of six years in prison when she sentenced in December.