HACKENSACK -- Charges of manslaughter and strict liability in a drug-induced death were dismissed by a judge Monday in the case of a Paterson man accused of selling heroin to an Allendale man who died of an overdose, according to an account in The Record.
Kaleik Easton, right, and Timothy Volpe were charged in the drug-overdose death of Brendan Cole. The most serious charges were dismissed Monday against Easton.
As reported by NJ Advance Media, Kaleik Easton, 21, and Timothy Volpe, 22, also of Paterson were accused of the two major charges after police found Brendan Cole's lifeless body in his Allendale bedroom on Jan. 4, 2014. An autopsy confirmed that Cole died of a heroin overdose.
In Superior Court in Hackensack on Monday, Judge Christopher Kazlau dismissed the charges against Easton, The Record reported. Kazlau said "extremely exculpatory" evidence obtained in a search of Cole's bedroom six days after his death was not handed over for two years and that it "strictly negates" drug-induced death and manslaughter charges.
During that search, police found six bags of heroin that were stamped "Take Over," The Record said. Ruling on a motion filed by Easton's defense attorney, Gayle Hargrove, Kazlau said none of the heroin recovered from Volpe, who was in a car with Easton and was carrying the heroin, was stamped "Take Over," and that "establishes an alternative source of narcotics," the newspaper reported.
Volpe pleaded guilty in December and must serve 10 years in prison, The Record said.
Easton, meanwhile, still faces drug distribution charges, the newspaper said.
As previously mentioned in a report by NJ Advance Media, strict liability for a drug-induced death, in the past, was a charge that was rarely used by police and prosecutors. However, as the heroin epidemic has raged across New Jersey, law enforcement authorities in recent years have been encouraging police and prosecutors to make full use of the law.
"Under the law, the defendant does not have to be a drug kingpin. You have to look at the whole case," Elie Honig, director of the state Attorney General's Division of Criminal Justice, said in an interview last year with NJ Advance Media.
A directive issued by the division in 2014 said "it is no longer a defense that the drug user contributed to his or her own death by ingesting the substance" and the law applies "to every person along the drug distribution chain."
"It's one of many options we have," Honig said.
The law imposes penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.