Guilty Plea In Fatal Oxy Overdose Of Quadriplegic Man

GOSHEN, NY — A woman in Port Jervis pleaded guilty to felony charges related to the death of a disabled man. Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler said that Katelynn Smith, 24, of Port Jervis admitted her guilt Oct. 11 in the death of a quadriplegic man in his Port Jervis home.

Smith pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, both felonies.

The district attorney's office recommended that Smith receive a sentence of six years in prison, plus a term of post-release supervision, when she is sentenced Dec. 18.

Smith admitted in court that on April 18 she illegally sold 12 oxycodone pills to the man and said she helped him take the pills by crushing them and rolling up a dollar bill for him to snort all 12 crushed pills through.

She said she knew the man had been drinking vodka at the time and that he took other medications, including Klonopin, which is a sedative.

Smith said she then left the man's home.

The man died afterward, and autopsy findings revealed the cause of death to be a combination of oxycodone, alcohol and the active ingredient in Klonopin.

Hoovler said Smith's guilty plea may be the first time in the county's history that a defendant had been convicted of homicide as a result of illegally selling drugs.

"Illegal drugs are destroying lives, families, communities," he 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," Hoovler said.

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