Prison For Woman Who Helped Disabled Man Snort Drug

A 24-year-old goes to prison for selling oxycodone to a quadriplegic man and helping him snort it.Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced Wednesday that Katelynn Smith of Port Jervis has been sentenced to six years in connection with a disabled Port Jervis man's death.

Smith’s conviction may represent the first time in Orange County history that a defendant has been convicted of homicide as a result of illegally selling drugs, Hoovler said.

Smith admitted that on April 18, 2018, she sold oxycodone to a quadriplegic man in his home. She helped the man take the pills by crushing them and rolling up a dollar bill for him to snort. Smith acknowledged that she was aware the man was drinking vodka at the time and that he took other medications, including Klonopin, a sedative.

The man later died, after Smith left him.

Autopsy findings revealed the man’s cause of death to be a combination of oxycodone, alcohol, and the active ingredient in Klonopin.

Smith pleaded guilty Oct. 11 to Criminally Negligent Homicide and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree before County Court Judge William L. DeProspo.

Wednesday Judge DeProspo sentenced Smith to six years in prison and a term of post-release supervision on the homicide charge, to run concurrently with a term of from one to three years in prison on the drug charge.

Hoovler thanked the Port Jervis Police Department for their efforts in the investigation and prosecution of the case.

“It’s common knowledge that we are in the midst of an opiate epidemic,” he said, “an epidemic where drug dealers, in their efforts to make an illegal profit, are literally killing people. Drug dealers must be punished, not just for selling drugs, but for the damage they do to people whose lives they affect. This case should serve as fair warning to drug dealers out there: If you sell drugs in Orange County and the buyer dies, we’re coming after you.”

District Attorney Hoovler commended Senior Assistant District Attorney Kelle Grimmer for her prosecution of the case.

SEE ALSO: Guilty Plea In Fatal Oxy Overdose Of Quadriplegic Man