WFCN, Wichita County —
A man from Wichita Falls is currently facing a challenge in the Second Court of Appeals to his groundbreaking murder conviction stemming from the sale of a lethal dosage of fentanyl.
The 30th District Court in Wichita County found 23-year-old Jasinto Jimenez guilty of murder and handed down a 45-year jail sentence for selling two fentanyl tablets, one of which Andres Diaz swallowed and died from.
After House Bill 6 was passed, which included the intentional production and distribution of the lethal opioid fentanyl in the definition of conduct constituting murder, the prosecution and conviction of Jimenez was the first of its sort in Texas.
In his current appeal, Jimenez is seeking a new trial or the reversal of the precedent-setting conviction.
In his appeal brief, Jimenez does not deny any wrongdoing in relation to the narcotics trade.
“The sale of two pills containing fentanyl to Leigha Smith by Jimenez was not disputed at trial,” the appeal stated. “That Andres Diaz, who received one of the pills from Smith, swallowed it and died of a fentanyl overdose.”
At first, Smith was also charged with murder and testified as a prosecution witness in Jimenez’s trial. Nonetheless, manslaughter was ultimately substituted for that original accusation. Smith was sentenced to probation after entering a guilty plea during Jimenez’s trial.
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Instead, the brief said that the trial evidence was insufficient to establish either that fentanyl delivery is objectively harmful to human life or that Jimenez was the causal party in Diaz’s death.
In the course of committing or attempting to commit a felony, a person conducts an act manifestly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual. This is deemed as murder pursuant to Texas law, according to the appeal brief.
The appeal argued that although the prosecution established that Jimenez sold fentanyl-laced pills and that Diaz died, they were unable to establish that the drug’s sale was obviously harmful to human life or that Jimenez’s conduct was the direct cause of Diaz’s death.
The appeal argues that neither the sale of the drugs to Smith nor Jimenez’s ability to predict Smith’s or Diaz’s subsequent behavior after receiving the pills establish a causal relationship between the two parties that led to Diaz’s death.
For more information, see: Wichita County jury finds defendant guilty in first fentanyl murder trial.
Jasinto was only involved in selling two tablets and a tiny amount of marijuana to Smith, who he knew to be a ‘perc’ user, according to the appeal brief. This occurred on the morning of July 15, 2022.
The brief contended that the trial evidence ignored Jimenez’s conduct in favor of testimony regarding the dangers of fentanyl.
A conclusion that the act of delivery was obviously harmful to human life cannot be supported by evidence of the general dangerousness of fentanyl, regardless of how little or strong it is, according to the appeal brief.
Smith ingested one of the two fentanyl pills without adverse effects and even attempted to get additional pills, according to the appeal. The document said that Jimenez had never given Smith permission to distribute the fentanyl further; rather, Smith broke the “chain of causation” by doing so independently.
A woman acquitted in the fentanyl killing in Wichita Falls
The brief states that there was insufficient evidence to establish, with a high degree of certainty, that Jimenez was the criminally responsible party for Diaz’s death, and that a number of unforeseen circumstances mitigated this finding.
According to the appeal, Jimenez sold Diaz none of the two fentanyl pills but Smith. In it, he denied ever giving Diaz any drugs, claiming that Smith and Jimenez never spoke about Diaz, and claimed that Jimenez had no idea Diaz was in the car with Smith when she purchased the pills.
Additionally, the appellate brief stated that Jimenez could not have foreseen Diaz receiving one of the pills, Diaz crushing and snorting the other, or Smith driving around Wichita Falls with Diaz appearing to have overdosed and then leaving him alone in the car while she went to watch a movie.
After Jimenez’s brief was submitted, the prosecution will have an opportunity to respond with its own brief. The state has until August 29, 2024, to submit its reply brief, barring any postponements or extra time.
In the battle against fentanyl, Wichita County is making progress.
The Second Court of Appeals justices will have the chance to affirm the verdict and sentence, overturn the conviction, or remand the case for a fresh trial after the prosecution has filed their response and Jimenez has had a chance to respond.