Drug Crimes, Substance Abuse 5.0 Alchol level, died from poisoning

[argkangie]

On May 31 2009 my 18 year old cousin died from alchol poisoning, he had a level of 5-0. At first all of his so called friends lied about what had really happend that night in tell yesterday one friend of his told us that he had recieved a phone call late/early morning from a mutual friend claiming that my cousin wasen't breathing and instead of calling 911 he drove about 40 min one way to pick that friend up and take him back to my cousins lifeless body that he had left in the front yard then decided to call 911, I am wanting to know if these people are just going to walk scott free and wouldn't my cousin of been really sick pucking, one girl had told me that my cousin had been pucking up blood and still nobody called 911 because they were to scard that they were going to get in to trouble......

 

[CdwJava]

Whether any criminal liability exists is a question for the police and the DA. If he consumed the alcohol voluntarily (and chances are he did) then there may well be little criminal culpability on the part of other partygoers. However, there may be laws in your state that apply to the host of such a party and maybe some criminal charge(s) can be made against the person or people that hosted the party or supplied the alcohol.

I imagine that the police are investigating and if they can make a charge stick, they almost certainly will give it a try.

Civil suits have a lower burden of proof and your cousin's next of kin can certainly hire an attorney to initiate action against whomever they believe is responsible and see where it goes. But, if this is a bunch of teenagers such a lawsuit may not result in an award of any consequence.

Who can be held accountable for what will depend on the details of the case. This is something I am certain the police are looking in to. Since you are only a cousin, I doubt the police will give you anything. Your cousin's family, however, might be given additional information as necessary.

My prayers for your family for your loss.

- Carl

 

[raskalnikov]

Whoever supplied the alcohol is criminally liable.

 

[CdwJava]

Whoever supplied the alcohol is criminally liable.

Maybe ... we do not know how he got the alcohol. If he drank alcohol he stole from his mother's cupboard, mom is not liable. If he voluntarily drank alcohol that was provided by numerous individuals (perhaps underage) then who is criminally liable?

The issue will revolve around the laws of the state in question (Oregon, it would seem) and the facts of the case. Someone who supplied the alcohol MIGHT be criminally liable, but it would have to be shown that the person providing it knew it was going to be consumed by underage drinkers. Ultimately, the only offense that might be brought to bear is a misdemeanor furnishing offense.

Civil liability is another matter altogether.

Remember, the consumption of alcohol - especially by a legal adult (the victim in this was 18) - is voluntary. The details of how the alcohol was obtained and whether further consumption was encouraged that will help determine whether or not anyone can be held criminally liable for this tragedy.

- Carl

 

[raskalnikov]

If he voluntarily drank alcohol that was provided by numerous individuals (perhaps underage) then who is criminally liable?

All the numerous individuals are liable.

Further, if he got drunk to such an extent at a bar, that bar is liable, as are the employees that served him. Such a case happened here in Michigan (Rick's Bar in East Lansing) and it was shut down for a year, and caused harsher penalties to be enacted.

ARKANGIE needs to contact the sheriff. But, if he was dead at the amazing amount of .50, it seems an autopsy, etc., has already been done.

When did this happen?

-Greg

 

[raskalnikov]

A lot of specifics are required in this case. Dramshop law may apply, etc.


A .50 blood alcohol level in the average 170lb male will result if he drank, roughly, an entire bottle of 40%alcohol in 1 minute then waited 20 minutes.

 

[CdwJava]

All the numerous individuals are liable.

Civilly, perhaps ... not so assuredly so from the criminal perspective.

Further, if he got drunk to such an extent at a bar, that bar is liable, as are the employees that served him. Such a case happened here in Michigan (Rick's Bar in East Lansing) and it was shut down for a year, and caused harsher penalties to be enacted.

A greater liability is imposed on a bar and the people serving the underage drinker as they are serving the subject directly. For all we know in this situation, the person was drinking darn near alone. We do no know that anyone at all was providing him with alcohol. And even if someone brought a 6-pack over, can it be shown that they had a reasonable belief that underage people might be drinking it? I am certainly not culpable if I bring a bottle of vodka to my 40-something friend's party for a bunch of adults and his teenage son gets a hold of it and slams it down. But, if I brought it to the party knowing it would be shared, I might face some culpability for furnishing alcohol to someone under 21, but not likely to contributing to his death.

Criminal culpability requires some form of intent (be it general or specific) and depending on the laws in Oregon and the details of the case (which are clearly unknown at this point) we cannot say for sure that anyone is criminally liable.

ARKANGIE needs to contact the sheriff. But, if he was dead at the amazing amount of .50, it seems an autopsy, etc., has already been done.

Certainly.

When did this happen?

I'm curious as to where?

The OP stated it happened May 31st of 2009, and the OP is from Portland, OR. However, a search of newspaper headlines on line for that time frame finds no stories in the Portland area of anyone dying of an alcohol overdose ... perhaps the deceased was in a state OTHER than the OP's state.

A newspaper story might have some additional details such as whose house they were at? Was it a party? Was it a couple people drinking? Etc. Those are the details that will help the police determine if any criminal charges can be made against anyone.

- Carl

 

[CdwJava]

Here is a summary of OR laws on the subject:

http://www.oregon.gov/OLCC/docs/publications/oregons_alcohol_laws_and_minors.pdf

- Carl

 

[argkangie]

I live in Portland Oregon but my cousin lived in LongBeach Washington and his death accured in Osterville Washington which is not many miles away, and this was put in the local Chinook newspaper

 

[raskalnikov]

Thanks for the input CdwJava. A curious case this is, indeed. I assumed Oregon. Whoops.

 

[CdwJava]

I could not find anything on it in the Chinook Observer or on Google. I am surprised - you'd think it would be a big story in a small community.

- Carl

 

[raskalnikov]

I agree, Cdw. The case in Michigan became national news.

 

[argkangie]

http://www.chinookobserver.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=13&ArticleID=28949&TM=10190.88

This is the chinook paper web address to my cousins obit but now I am having a hard time finding the news article saying that the police are investigating, I got a chinook news paper with the article in it yesterday when I went to his funeral but that dont help me on the internet

OK I found it but it wont give much info inless you subscribe
http://www.chinookobserver.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=12&TM=11098.62



OYSTERVILLE - Law enforcement officers are investigating the death of an 18-year-old male whose body was found May 31 in Oysterville. An autopsy was scheduled Tuesday.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009 Full Story >>>

 

[CdwJava]

Sadly, there seems to be nothing on line regarding this tragedy that I can see.

But, I would be pretty certain that the incident is being investigated. Whether any criminal culpability can be assigned will depend on details that none of us can know about.

No matter the cause, it is a great tragedy and should never have happened.

- Carl

 

[argkangie]

Can anyone tell me if moving the body from one place to another would be considered abuse of a corpse?

 

[CdwJava]

Is that what happened? Was he moved after he died?

It could be tampering with evidence or some such thing, but those are likely very minor offenses if applicable in your state at all. It's a good question, though.

- Carl

 

[argkangie]

yeah one of the boys admitted to moving the body on more then one occasion and it looked like they were trying to kind of hide the body because the big plastic play structor was tipped over on its side where his body was laying, I honestly feel that the parents of this house were it happend at are also more involved as well

 

[CdwJava]

That may well be. Only time will tell whether anyone can be charged and with what offense. I suspect that tampering with the body or the crime scene is a misdemeanor and not all that serious an offense. We'll see whether anything more can or will be charged as time goes on.

if you find any links to the story, please post them.

- Carl

 

[argkangie]

http://wapacso.awardspace.com/press_releases/pressrelease.cgi?id=483397623&action=archive

http://wapacso.awardspace.com/press_releases/pressrelease.cgi


Here are the only two things so far that I have found but another thing that I was curious about was the way my family found out of my cousins death was by the coroners office calling but the police sure went to my cousins church and told them about the death and they were even told before my family even recieved the call from the coroner, I just think that there is something fishy going on, its like the town of Long Beach is trying to save the reputation of their town and not worried about much more, I dont know nor understand why but even the news paper down there had to express how my cousin dropped out of high school and such, it just seems like they are trying to make him out to be a bad kid or something but they failed to mention how my cousin has volunteered at the kitchen table (feeding the homeless) for the last six years or how he was a very active member of his church, or how he was given an award for volunteering a thousand hours of service to the second hand shop down there...... I am just starting to become very frusterated with everything in regards to my cousins death believe me when I say that there is much much more that dont add up or make any sense, now we are being told that they were drawing male penises all over my cousins face when they had realized that he wasen't breathing and then freaked out scrubbing it all off before moving his body outside...... Does anyone know who can help us find out what really happend that night my cousin died, what can we do to get the answers we need to be able to move on in life and can anyone tell me what the laws on protesting or picketing are? Thanks

 

[CdwJava]

Here are the only two things so far that I have found but another thing that I was curious about was the way my family found out of my cousins death was by the coroners office calling but the police sure went to my cousins church and told them about the death and they were even told before my family even recieved the call from the coroner,

That's likely a procedural thing. I can tell you from living and working in a small town that word gets around well before the coroner has a chance to notify anyone. And, sometimes, when they field questions they decide the best course of action is to come clean with what happened. There could be any number of reasons why the police notified others ... could have been as part of the investigation, could have been an error, or could have been part of a reasoned response. It's impossible to say unless you ask them directly.

I dont know nor understand why but even the news paper down there had to express how my cousin dropped out of high school and such,

Newspapers print what they do. If that was all they could find out about him, then they run with it. Since they couldn't say he was a student at, graduate of, XYZ high school, they likely went with the drop out angle.

it just seems like they are trying to make him out to be a bad kid or something but they failed to mention how my cousin has volunteered at the kitchen table (feeding the homeless) for the last six years or how he was a very active member of his church, or how he was given an award for volunteering a thousand hours of service to the second hand shop down there

Could be no one told them.

now we are being told that they were drawing male penises all over my cousins face when they had realized that he wasen't breathing and then freaked out scrubbing it all off before moving his body outside

Okay ... so what we have is stupid party tricks at a drunken booze bash where some of the partygoers were behaving in a juvenile manner. Hardly suspicious, just the actions of drunken guys. And, of course, any other response was likely a panicked response to his action. Could that be a crime? Sure. Whether it might be prosecuted might depend on why the people did what they did.

Does anyone know who can help us find out what really happend that night my cousin died, what can we do to get the answers we need to be able to move on in life and can anyone tell me what the laws on protesting or picketing are? Thanks

You (or the immediate family, rather) can ask the police for information as it comes up, but they do NOT have to provide anyone with anything. Investigations like this could take a very long time. It might be that they will not have a good case to make for much of anything against anyone. Again, if he was a willing participant in the drinking, there may not be any crime for contributing to his death. He was 18 and was legally able to make his own decision in that regard. Yes, providing alcohol charges might be made against someone, but the odds are that no one will be able to be held directly accountable (criminally) for his death. Associated lesser crimes might be made, but chances are slim that circumstances would allow for manslaughter or some such thing.

But, we do not know the details, so it may well be that the situation WILL present a case for manslaughter or a related lesser homicide. And, of course, a civil case might find someone responsible even if a criminal case does not.

- Carl