Riverside County prosecutors Monday were reviewing the case submitted by sheriff’s detectives against a 31-year-old man suspected of supplying fentanyl to a Winchester resident who died after ingesting the synthetic opioid.
Justin Lee Kail of Winchester was arrested and booked Friday into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta, where he’s being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
Kail allegedly sold an undisclosed quantity of fentanyl to 27-year-old Ernie Gutierrez last August, and sheriff’s detectives spent almost six months building a case that culminated in the suspect’s arrest, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Ryan Marcuse.
Specific details regarding how Kail and the victim knew one another and the circumstances behind the deadly ingestion were not provided. District Attorney’s Office spokesman John Hall confirmed to City News Service that the case is under review, and the agency has until Wednesday to decide whether there are grounds for a criminal complaint to be filed.
Marcuse said Gutierrez was found dead from fentanyl poisoning at a property in the 3000 block of Benton Street on the evening of Aug. 24, 2021.
If the D.A.’s office files charges in the case, Kail would be the 11th defendant charged with second-degree murder for allegedly supplying fentanyl resulting in a fatality in Riverside County over the last year.
Illegal fentanyl manufacturing is primarily done in foreign labs, with the product smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The synthetic drug is known to be 80-100 times more potent than morphine and is a popular additive, seamlessly mixed into any number of narcotics and pharmaceuticals.
According to Sheriff Chad Bianco, there were about 500 fentanyl-induced deaths countywide last year, which represents a 250-fold increase from 2016, when only two such fatalities were documented.
Legislation authored by Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, facilitating prosecutions against drug dealers who sell fentanyl with lethal results has twice been quashed by the state Senate Committee on Public Safety for unspecified reasons.
Some county prosecutors, including Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin and Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, have pursued murder charges against dealers who allegedly sold fatal doses anyway.
Last month, Hestrin said “profit and greed” had led Mexican drug cartels to transport the pills in massive quantities across the border, where law enforcement is “not getting any help” in stemming the tide.
Background information on Kail was not available.