Note: This story was edited Aug. 8 to add comments from the deceased’s mother.
A jury convicted a fentanyl dealer of involuntary manslaughter Aug. 7, deciding against the prosecutor’s arguments that he should be convicted of murder.
Bryan Anaya-Esquivel was charged with murder after a 17-year-old he had sold fentanyl-laden Percocets fatally overdosed from the pills.
The San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office was hoping to establish precedent to convict fentanyl dealers for murder instead of drug sales or involuntary manslaughter.
When reached by phone, DA spokesperson Jacquelyn Rodriguez said that the result was not what they hoped for, but that the office was grateful to the
